


Adoption

by gabymarie04



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Oblivious!Harry, Oops, Smut, ed is their cashier, eleanor got a boob job, he gives Niall free brownies, hungry!niall, i pretend not to care!Zayn, oh and there's a little girl, pinning!liam, sassy!louis, what the hell did i write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:09:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabymarie04/pseuds/gabymarie04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are you?” She asked, her voice high yet soft at the same time. Blinking her doe eyes at Liam, a small smile spread on her thin lips.<br/>“I…um.” Liam stuttered, causing the rest of the boys to stare at him. He shot Louis a helpless look, and Louis couldn’t handle it anymore.<br/>“Who the fuck is this?” Louis blurted, making everyone cringe. Harry let out a disgruntled noise and jumped behind the little girl, covering her ears.<br/>“Louis! You can’t curse in front of a little girl!” Harry stared over at him with a bewildered look, as if wondering how Louis ever thought that was a good idea. Louis was too busy panicking to worry about a crazy look from Harry though, or how cursing might corrupt the little girl.<br/>Speaking of which, the little girl wrapped her small hands around Harry’s and tugged them off her ears.<br/>“I’m not that young. I’m seven.” She gave Harry a duh look and rolled her eyes. They all blinked down at her in surprise, except for Zayn who just sighed and looked tired.</p><p>Or the one where Zayn brings some random kid home from the bar and everyone flips shit</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shouting, Brownies, & Sex

**Author's Note:**

> Zayn's never home, Louis' irritable, Niall eats, Liam worries, and Harry's just Harry.

Shouting, Brownies, & Sex  
(Chapter 1)

 

“Get your fat ass off of me, damn it!” Louis shouted, his cries muffled by one of the stupid throw pillows Harry had to have on the couch. Gives the room a bit of life, yeah? Fucking hipster. 

“You have the fat ass, Louis, not me.” Niall grunted, shifting his weight and pinning Louis face-down on the couch. Still keeping his prize away from the Irishman, Louis smirked and shook his ass against Niall’s stomach that was already smashed along his entire backside. 

“It is a nice ass, isn’t it?” Louis shrieked very un-manly like when Niall groaned in complaint and pinched his side. 

“Just give me the damn chips, Louis!” Niall shoved Louis’ head into the couch again, using him like a lift to reach farther out to where Louis held the bag away from him. 

“Never! Piss off! They’re mine!” 

“But it’s the last bag!” Niall whined, finally resorting to getting his knees up and onto Louis’ back completely. Profanities flew from the smaller man’s mouth as Niall used him like a stepping stool, still somehow failing to snatch the bag of Doritos from him. Louis may be tiny, but he was devious. He knew how to keep shit from people, so much so that not even Niall’s growling stomach could steal something from him. 

“And it’s mine, so remove your pale-self from on top of me and leave me be!” Louis yelled before taking Niall completely off guard and rolling over. Niall tumbled to the floor, not having a chance to get his knees back to the couch and regain his balance. A curse flew from his mouth as his head barely missed the coffee table. Louis grinned mischievously at him. “I win.” 

“Fucking cunt—“ Niall jumped up to tackle Louis again when he shoved another chip in his mouth. Louis squealed and scrambled over the back of the couch, running straight into a very wary looking Liam. 

“Liam! Hurry—hide me! Niall’s trying to eat me and my scrumptious ass!” Louis ducked behind Liam’s forever-growing biceps, and stuck his tongue out at Niall as he tumbled over the back of the couch after him. 

“Niall, we’ll go to the store in a few to buy more chips, yeah? We’re almost out of food anyway. So stop chasing Louis.” Liam commanded in his always-gentle tone. No one ever had the heart to tell the lad no when he spoke to them with those goddamn puppy dog eyes of his, so neither was surprised when Niall listened and sat his bum flat on the floor. He was undoubtedly pouting, but at least he wasn’t beating Louis up anymore. 

Liam sidestepped to look back at Louis and furrowed his eyebrows at him. Louis raised his in return. 

“Did you just call your ass scrumptious?” Liam questioned. Louis opened his mouth to answer with a smart remark when Zayn burst into the flat, smelling of weed and smoke and looking a bit disheveled. 

“You bet his ass is scrumptious.” Zayn agreed, scanning the room. He was obviously looking for someone, and when he didn’t seem to find them he stuck his bottom lip out. Everyone ignored his comment with blank stares. 

“Oh, look what the cat dragged in.” Louis shot daggers at Zayn, as did Liam but his was a bit less murderous and more worried. Niall just stared at him with a look of indifference, as carefree as ever. “Where the hell have you been?” 

“Out.” Zayn shrugged and shoved his hands in his coat pockets, avoiding the question and gazing at Louis with a bored look. He glanced over at Liam’s almost hurt look and had the decency to look ashamed for a second, but by the time he looked back over at Louis it was gone. Louis was ready to kill him, but bit his tongue to keep from shouting so many profanities at Zayn that Liam would run off crying. “Where’s Harry?” 

Louis’ fist clenched and he was almost three hundred percent positive he was going to throttle Zayn and drag his lifeless body into a river. 

“You’ve been gone for a week and all you’ve got to say is, ‘where’s Harry’? I know you like for your little fuck toy to be sitting here waiting for you for whenever the fuck you decide to just stroll back in, but he’s out at his new job. Which you would know if you were ever fucking here. Or at least called every now and then, you pot-head smoking asshole.” Louis spit fiercely, too angry to even feel bad when he saw Liam duck his head in his peripheral. Louis was sick and tired of Zayn’s shit and it was about time someone told him how fucking ridiculous he was being.

“Oh, calm down Louis, you’re not my mother. You’re just upset because my dick’s been up Harry’s ass and yours hasn’t.” Zayn retorted lazily, still starring at Louis with that blank look that Louis was ready to smack off his face. Biting his lip briefly, Niall glanced over at Liam to see him duck his head even farther down. Louis’ blood boiled even more as Zayn’s words struck home, and it took everything in him to stay some-what civil and not drop kick Zayn’s throat.

“Your dick has been up everybody’s ass Zayn!” Louis barked, throwing his hands out and almost hitting Liam. He didn’t even flinch though, didn’t even really notice because he was too busy starring at the floor and begging it to swallow him whole. Zayn’s blank expression finally changed, turning into a glare that was only about half as good as Louis’. 

“And how is that a problem?” Zayn snapped, causing Louis to roll his eyes. 

“That’s not the problem, Zayn. The problem is that you’re never fucking home! And it wouldn’t be so bad if you would just tell us where you’re going or call us and tell us when you’ll be back or something! But no, you’re head’s too busy up your own ass to even think about how we feel. You could be dead on a street corner for all we know whenever you’re gone and it worries us sick, damn it. All Harry does is talk about all the different ways you could be kidnapped or murdered, and Niall and I have to put up with Liam moping around all over the place because you’re not here and he misses you and thinks your bloody dead. And every time you leave he gets worse and worse and I can’t handle seeing my best mate so upset over something so stupid anymore.” Louis’ huffing and puffing by the time he’s finished his rant. Zayn’s starring at Louis with wide eyes, realization finally settling in their hazel depths. His eyes moved to Liam, who looked close to tears as his gaze nervously flicked around the room and avoided eye contact with everyone. Zayn and his absences had always been a touchy subject with Liam and the fact that Louis practically threw it all in Zayn’s face to guilt trip him had Liam wanting to flee the country. Honestly he was just worried for the dark haired lad’s wellbeing, and it didn’t help that he was basically in love with the kid. Not knowing how he was doing eats Liam from the inside out. 

Niall watched on with nervous eyes, waiting for someone to say something. No one did for a long time, Louis glaring at Zayn, Zayn watching Liam, and Liam looking everywhere but at Zayn. Just when the silence was too much and it was obvious someone was going to crack, the door to the flat flung open again and in trots Harry, the biggest smile Louis had seen in a while on his stupidly cute face. 

“Guess who had an awesome first day at work!” Harry shouted, throwing his arms in the air happily and waiting for a big group hug. When no one budged, he dropped his arms and sent a pout around the room. Finally, finally, he noticed all the tension flowing around the room and turned to see Zayn slumped against the kitchen counter. “What did I miss?” 

“Nothing important. Just Louis raging on and on about how I’m a piece of shit that likes to worry his friends to death.” Zayn answered, sending another glare at Louis who just snickered. 

“You’ve got that right, dick.” Louis growled, stepping closer to Liam and wrapping his arm around his waist. Liam still hadn’t looked at Zayn, and instead went back to starring at the floor before curling into Louis’ side. Zayn watched him with a look of hurt in his eyes before he scolded his expression blank again. 

“I’m going out. To the bar down the street and I’ll be back by two.” Zayn explained snippily, leveling Louis and Niall with a look. Even though Niall never said anything when Zayn and Louis got into their arguments, Zayn knew Niall would side with Louis. He always did, no matter what the situation was, because Niall looked up to Louis like he was Justin Bieber before he turned into an asshole. Niall gave Zayn a shrug when Louis continued to just glare, and Zayn rolled his eyes. Harry stayed silent as Zayn moved past him towards the door. He glanced back at Liam for a moment, his face gentle and tone even softer. “See you later, Li.” 

When all Liam did was mumble a quick, “Bye, Zayn.” Zayn opened the door and stepped out. 

“Bye, Harry.” 

Harry gave a hesitant wave as the door closed, then turned back to the rest of the boys. 

“What the hell just happened?” Everyone ignored him, Louis groaning at the same time Niall sighed. Nudging Liam’s side with his fingers that were wrapped around him, Louis tugged Liam towards the couch. 

“Come on, Li. We’ll have a movie marathon and watch The Dark Knight Rises on repeat until the sun comes up.” Louis promised, trying to get that upset look off of his mate’s face. Liam looked ready to agree before Niall and Harry opened their big mouths.

“Can we watch Love Actually, too?” Harry asked brightly, apparently having forgotten all that just went down when he stumbled into the flat. Louis frowned at him and grabbed Liam’s hand, threading their fingers. 

“We’re not watching that crap, Harry. We’ve watched it every movie night this month.” 

Harry pouted again, and Louis almost faltered at the sight of his already big lips puckered. 

“It’s not crap; it’s a good movie! It deserves to be watched at every movie night.” Harry replied haughtily, sticking his nose into the air. Niall cut in then, scrambling off the floor and into the kitchen. 

“I’ll make popcorn!” 

“Bring some gummy bears too, if you can find them.” Harry called after him. Turning to Louis, he shot him another bright smile that made his eyes twinkle and Louis swoon. “I like them cause they’re cute and squishy.” Walking over towards where Louis still stood with Liam, Harry poked Louis’ stomach and his smile widened even more. “Kind of like you!” 

“I am not squishy, Harold!” It was Louis’ turn to pout as he turned away from Harry. “Just because you’re a brick wall—“ 

“You are too, Boo, but it’s what makes you all cute and lovable and—“ Harry was trying to poke Louis’ stomach again, and when he couldn’t reach due to being turned around, he grabbed Louis’ sides in his hands before sliding them around to his stomach. 

“Stop it Harry, you curly haired freak!” Louis shouted, squirming out of his grip and hiding behind Liam. He only looked slightly better than a moment ago, now watching Harry and Louis with a fond yet still upset look in his eyes. 

“But you love my curls!” Harry reminded Louis. Not that he needed a reminder, Louis knew more than anybody in here how badly Harry’s curls affected him by the way he always had his hands in them, tugging them and twirling them around his fingers. 

“Doesn’t mean you can try to cope a feel.” Louis snorted, laughing when Harry’s mouth fell open in fake shock. Niall hurried into the room a moment later, the depressed look on his face making everyone turn their attention to him. 

“We’re out of popcorn.” Niall whimpered pathetically. Louis gave him a deadpan look, and Harry opened his mouth only to have Niall cut him off. “No more gummy bears, either.” 

Now Niall and Harry were both looking depressed, and Louis watched them with an un-amused expression as they waddled helplessly to the couch and collapsed on it, falling all over each other in the process. Liam let go of Louis’ hand and Louis turned his attention to him with furrowed eyebrows. 

“May as well go to the store now, then.” Liam said, walking over to the door and beginning to tug his shoes on. Louis gave him a sour look and Niall glanced over the back of the couch at him. 

“What about movie night?” Louis whined, stomping his foot. Liam glanced up at him with a blank gaze and shrugged. 

“We’ll have movie night when we get back, yeah?” Liam reasoned, opening the door and waiting for the others to follow. Knowing there was no way for him to win this argument, Louis sighed and slipped into his Toms. Niall quickly followed suit at the mention of getting more food, and Harry walked on out seeing as he still had his shoes on from earlier. 

They all climbed into Harry’s shit car, Louis shoving Harry out of the way and snatching the keys from him. 

“You’re a shit driver.” He had told him when Harry gave him a bewildered look at not being able to drive his own car. Harry pouted again—that boy was forever pouting—and sunk into the seat behind Louis, Niall next to him and Liam in the passenger seat. The ride to the grocery store was in an awkward silence that made Louis want to drive the car into the nearest light post. It didn’t help that Harry had some hipster shit playing quietly in the background, and Louis couldn’t tell what was worse—this hipster shit or elevator music. 

When they finally reached the grocery store, Louis all but threw himself out of the car. 

“My music isn’t that bad.” Harry whined from behind him as he climbed calmly out of his car. No, his music wasn’t that bad it was horrible and Louis was about to say so but Niall beat him to it. 

“Your music is absolutely horrendous. We can all agree on that, even Liam, he’s just too nice to say so. Right, Liam?” 

Thus far Liam had been quiet, apparently still lost in his thoughts that were probably all about Zayn. He stumbled a bit at the sound of his name, turning to look back at his friends from where he walked along into the store ahead of them. 

“Yeah, Ni. Whatever you say.” Liam mumbled, too spaced out to have heard or even cared what they were talking about. Harry’s mouth fell open and if Louis wasn’t so worried about Liam he would have giggled at how ridiculous Harry looked. 

“Liam! I understand hearing insults from the lads ‘cause they’re assholes, but it just hurts coming from you!” Harry then proceeded to fake cry all over Niall’s shoulder, who just hugged him tightly and pretended to console him. Louis shot Harry a dirty look for the ‘asshole’ comment to which he just winked back. There was a moment when Louis considered throwing his phone at him, but thought better of it when he realized he definitely didn’t have the money to buy a new one. 

He loved his job at the bookstore, sure. It was quiet and laid back and no one ever really came except for old ladies so it was an easy couple of hours. But that being said, the store never really made much money and Louis was stuck with very low pay. He and the other four boys all split the rent of their house evenly, but Louis can’t even count how many times the others have had to chip in to help Louis pay his bit on it. It doesn’t help that Zayn is barely ever there, and conveniently never there on the third Friday of every month when they pay the bills. If it wasn’t for the risk of being called a hypocrite, Louis would have kicked his ass out a long time ago. 

Well, maybe. Honestly he’d feel like shit if he did so, because Zayn wouldn’t have anywhere to go and Liam’s pouty faces would only get worse.  
It’s then he realized they’re already in the store and in the freezer section. He was by himself, not including Harry, Liam and Niall obviously having running off on their own little missions. Lord forbid Harry have a mission though, because the only mission this boy ever had was to irritate the living hell out of Louis. And Liam and Niall knew this, but didn’t seem to care enough about Louis to stick around and help him ward off the tall, lanky creature that likes to latch onto him and make him lose every goddamn sense he’s ever had, turning him into a big mushy monster of starry eyes and heart ache.

He needed new friends. 

“So Boo, where to first?” Harry asked, flipping his curls out of his eyes. He was leaning over the shopping cart he seemed to pull out of thin air, so much so that the poor thing looked ready to flip under his weight. You’d think that being as he was the one to grab and steer the cart that he’d lead the way, but instead he handed all rights of control over to Louis so he could be in charge, and if Louis didn’t stop thinking about what that could imply he’d end up sticking his dick inside one of the freezers to keep a hard-on at bay. And he didn’t really want a frozen dick. 

“Um. Well, I’m pretty sure Niall’s going to cover this section and the snack section, and Liam’s going to grab all the cleaning stuff and overly-healthy shit, so we’re stuck getting stuff that actually qualifies as food.” Louis explained, tapping his finger on his chin in thought. When Harry just continued to gaze at him with a dazed, goofy look on his face, Louis hid a smirk and rolled his eyes. “Just roll up and down the aisles, Curly, I’ll grab what we need when I see it.” 

And Harry did just that, stopping when Louis saw something they needed, and watching his every move as he got it and placed it in the cart. Louis hated it (okay, secretly loved it) when Harry got like this, when he looked at him like he was actually somebody he thought was attractive enough to at least have a one-night stand with. But instead Louis was always just stuck with his perverted, ‘never actually going to be fulfilled’ jokes. He just didn’t understand it—how Harry can hit on and try to hook up with literally everyone (Niall and Liam included, even though he was shot down by both thank god) except Louis. He was just that unattractive, he supposed. 

“Boo?” Harry’s voice snapped Louis out of his thoughts as they turned onto the last aisle. He sounded concerned, which Louis could understand, they were best friends after all. But still, it hurt Louis to think that was all they’d be. They were just friends. 

“Yeah?” Louis tried to ignore the worried look Harry was shooting him, instead turning in the opposite direction and picking out the right cartoon of eggs to buy.  
“What’s the matter?” Harry asked, sounding even more concerned than a moment ago. Louis only shrugged, still refusing to look at him. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—tell Harry what was on his mind. He knew his feelings were unrequited, and telling Harry about them would only ruin their friendship. And sure Louis was upset that he couldn’t be more than just a friend to Harry, but he would take just being a friend over being nothing any day. 

“Nothing, Haz. I’m fine.” Louis placed the eggs he found fit in the cart, and tensed when he felt Harry move to stand behind him and effectively blocking any chance he had of escaping. He kept his gaze on the cold tile floor as Harry placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned him around. “Harry, seriously it’s—“ 

“Don’t lie to me.” Harry cut him off sternly, one of his large hands moving to rest on Louis’ hip and the other reaching up to brush Louis’ feathery hair out of his eyes. “Boobear, look at me, will you?” He was almost pleading, and damn him for using that nickname on Louis. Louis couldn’t exactly not listen to anything Harry told him to do when he called him that. Almost against his will, Louis looked up into Harry’s wide and worried green eyes. “What’s wrong? And don’t tell me it’s nothing.” 

Louis couldn’t even process what Harry was saying at that point, too busy lost in how deep and slow his voice was, and how curly and dark his hair was, and how bright and caring his eyes were. And then his gaze flicked down to Harry’s full red lips and Louis almost lost it. Harry and his gorgeous lips were just so close. Just when he thought he had gathered enough sense to actually answer Harry instead of gazing at his lips that looked perfect for giving Louis the best blow job of his life, Louis glanced up and caught the darkened look in Harry’s eyes only to lose it again. He was starring at Louis’ lips as well, the heated look he was giving them shooting straight to Louis’ dick and making his breath catch. 

Louis couldn’t handle this. 

“Oi! What are you doing over there, ya horny bastards?” The loud boom of the Irishman voice broke the two from their trances, and Harry quickly took a step back and out of Louis’ bubble. Louis breathed a sigh of relief—or just actually breathed for that matter—and looked over to see Niall steering a cart full of crap haphazardly over towards them with a knowing smirk on his lips. To kill Niall or kiss him, was a hard question running through Louis’ mind. Sparing a glance at Harry, Louis saw the angry look he shot Niall before he blinked it away and smiled at the lad. Louis wasn’t even sure if he actually saw it or not, it had happened to fast. 

“None of your business, mate. And who are you to call people horny bastards, ay?” Harry grinned before tackling Niall into a headlock. Niall groaned out a couple hundred profanities that had mothers that were walking by cover their children’s ears and scowl at them. Louis grabbed what looked like a wrapped brownie that the store’s café makes and threw it at the two over-grown children that were setting horrible examples for the actual children. 

“Cut it out, you idiots. People are starring.” Louis complained as Harry released Niall, who only collapsed on the floor and snatched up the brownie.  
“Louis! How could you just throw this—it was perfect, you fucking cunt, and you just messed it all up!” Niall cried dramatically, clutching the dessert to his chest and laying on the ground. Louis grimaced at how unsanitary it was. 

“Oh, shut up, you can get another one. Now let’s go find Liam and get the hell out of here.” 

As if on cue, Liam turned the corner with his cart and automatically zeroed in on Niall lying limply on the ground. He looked up at Harry and Louis with an eyebrow raised, and both boys just shrugged. Harry bit his lip and squatted down next to Niall. 

“I got this.” He scooped Niall up in his arms, picking him up and carrying him easily over to his cart. Louis drooled as he watched Harry’s arm muscles flex slightly and had to mentally smack himself when he saw Liam smirking at him. But then Liam flashed at DVD at him, and Louis realized he wasn’t even smirking at his useless pinning after Harry, he was smirking at a movie he had found for movie night. Typically Liam. 

“Teen Wolf, season 2.” Liam grinned hopefully at Louis who looked at him blankly. He could see the reason for their obsession for the stupid show of course, it was crawling with sexy men and women, but this was a bit much. 

“Liam, it’s on Netflix. Why would we buy the box set if we—“ 

“But, Louis! This has behind the scenes stuff! And you know what happens behind the scenes.” Liam’s smirk only widened and Louis rolled his eyes. Harry dropped Niall down into his cart of unhealthy snacks and moved around to push it. 

“Shirtless men everywhere! Come on, Boo. Please? You know you want more shirtless Tyler action.” Harry wiggled his eyebrows at Louis and when did Louis become the sensible one in situations like this. Of-fucking-course he wanted to see more shirtless Tyler Hoechlin. 

“Ugh, fine.” Louis groaned. Screw Liam and his puppy dog eyes, and Harry with his big green ones. He pointed a finger at Liam in threat as he started to hop around very girly-like with Harry. “But you’re paying for the most of this, then.” 

Liam nodded enthusiastically and gently set the box set down in the seat where babies were supposed to go. Louis rolled his eyes and grabbed his and Harry’s cart. 

“Well, come on, then. We need to get home before the milk spoils.” Louis complained, already pushing his cart out of the aisle and to a register. Luckily there weren’t very many people there and they could just walk straight up to the cashier. 

“Louis!” A voice suddenly shouted, momentarily distracting Louis from unloading his cart onto the conveyer belt. He looked up to the cashier to see none other than their buddy Ed starring back at him with a wide grin, before glancing behind him at the rest of his friends. “Harry! Liam, Niall!” 

“Hey, mate!” Liam shouted from the rear, leaning over Harry to give Ed a very firm bro-shake. Harry leaned over the register next, giving Ed a hug then stepping aside so Louis could do the same. They all looked over to Niall after Louis and Ed released each other, waiting for him to at least say hi to Ed. Instead Niall gave Ed a pitiful look and pointed an accusing finger at Louis.

“Louis crushed my brownie!” Niall basically screamed, only accomplishing in making Ed laugh. Louis and Harry went back to adding items to the conveyer belt as Ed began scanning them. 

“Oh, that’s okay, mate! I’ll just have El make you a whole batch later, yeah?” Ed winked at Niall playfully and Niall immediately perked up. 

“And will you bring me a couple beers?” Niall pushed, raising his eyebrows. Ed laughed harder and Louis rolled his eyes. 

“When do I not?” Ed chuckled, earning a high-five and a wide grin from Niall. 

“Cheers, mate!” 

“Ed!” Just as Louis and Harry had moved aside to let Liam unload his shopping cart, a high-pitched voice broke through the quiet and made them all jump. Ed sighed good-naturedly and Louis cringed, taking a half step behind Harry. Eleanor walked around the corner and appeared in front of them, still wearing her apron from the café. “Are you promising people I’ll make them free brownies again?” 

Ed rolled his eyes at Eleanor’s usual bitchy tone. 

“It’s just Lou and the boys, El.” Ed grinned evilly at Louis then, as Eleanor whipped her head around to look at him. A wide, flirty grin covered her face in replace of her scowl, and Harry grabbed Louis’ hand. 

“Oh, hey Louis. How are you, babe? Haven’t seen you in a while.” Eleanor practically purred, leaning over the cash register next to Ed and sticking her chest out even farther. 

“There’s a reason for that.” Harry grumbled, irritated. Eleanor shot him a dirty look before eye-raping Louis some more. Louis shivered for all the wrong reasons and ducked behind Harry’s shoulder. 

“Erm…fine, thanks.” Louis mumbled awkwardly, pretending to be busy doing—well, anything at that point. Normally Louis could sass the shit out of anybody that ever so much as looked at him. Not with Eleanor, though. Never with Eleanor. The thin brunette scared the hell out of Louis with how persistent she seemed to be at getting Louis naked and tied to her bed. Louis had told her many times in the past that he wasn’t interested (“I like sucking dick!”) but she didn’t seem to get the hint (“That’s okay, I don’t mind.”). Because of this none of the lads were too fond of her—except for Niall who always tried to get her tied to his bed, and failed—especially Harry, who seemed to have this burning hatred towards the girl that he wasn’t afraid to show. 

“That’s great. I’ve been doing pretty well too, in case you were wondering.” Eleanor explained, still starring at Louis with lusty eyes, even as he hid behind the huge wall that was Harry. 

“He wasn’t” Harry growled. Eleanor ignored him. 

“I recently just got a boob job, actually. What do you think?” Eleanor then proceeded to tug her v-neck shirt down even lower, causing Niall’s eyes to bug out of his head, Liam to cover his eyes with his hand, Ed to give a somewhat approving nod, Louis to move even farther behind Harry, and Harry at grit his teeth and tighten his grip on Louis’ hand. 

“I think they’re fucking awesome.” Niall barked, his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth. Eleanor ignored him and continued to gaze at Louis, now biting her lip. 

“Look fucking hot, don’t they?” 

“That’s it.” Harry had obviously had enough, using his free hand to grab his wallet out of his pocket and tossing it at Liam who jumped but still managed to catch it. “Use however much you need, Louis and I are going to wait in the car.” Harry instructed Liam, who nodded his wide eyes in return. “See you later, Ed.” 

Louis barely had time to mumble a goodbye to Ed as well before Harry was tugging him by his hand out of the store doors. Harry didn’t say a single word until they reached his car, and Louis knew not to say anything either due to Harry’s stiff posture. When he finally dropped Louis’ hand to slump against the driver’s side door, he sighed. Louis tried not to feel cold at the loss of contact.

“She just makes me so damn mad, the way she treats you.” Harry tried to explain himself. The angered look in his eyes was doing funny things to Louis, and he scolded himself for being turned on at a time like this. “I honestly don’t understand why you don’t stand up to her—you do to anybody else!” Harry wasn’t mad at Louis, not at all, he was just frustrated and yelling seemed to be helping him get rid of his frustrations. Louis shrugged and bit his lip, feeling a bit embarrassed. 

“She just scares me, if I’m honest.” Louis chuckled. “I’ve never had anybody come on to me that strong and not get the bloody hint that I’m not interested. And then she likes to eye-rape me and it’s quite frightening.” Louis tried to laugh the whole thing off but he honestly was pretty scared of Eleanor; the girl would probably tie him up in her basement and use him as a sex slave if he ever let his guard down around her. Louis’ words just seemed to irritate Harry more though, and he reached out to grab Louis’ hand again, tugging him into his arms. Harry snuggled Louis right up against him, placing his chin on Louis’ head. Louis’ body immediately sunk into Harry’s warm embrace on its own accord, and Louis didn’t have it in him to fight it. He and Harry cuddled all the time, sure, but it never seemed enough to Louis. He’d take every chance he could get. 

“I’m sorry, Boo. You shouldn’t have to deal with that.” Harry whispered sincerely into Louis’ ear before he pressed a kiss into his hair. Louis couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine. 

“It’s okay, Harry, really. At least I know someone cares, yeah?” He meant it as a joke, but it didn’t sound as light as he’d meant it to. Harry stiffened a bit before hugging him tighter. 

“What do you mean, at least you know someone cares? We all care about you a lot, Louis, you know that.” Harry seemed upset by Louis choice of words, and Louis smiled to himself slightly. Tilting his head up slightly, he nuzzled into Harry’s neck and pressed a kiss against it. He didn’t miss the way Harry shivered ever so slightly. 

“I know, Hazza. I was only joking; it just didn’t come out as I meant it to.” Louis whispered, closing his eyes and resting his head on Harry’s shoulder. It was quiet for a few minutes, the two of them just cuddling and leaning against Harry’s shitty car. And then Harry was kissing his head again and pulling away. 

“Boys are here. Let’s go ahead and get in so we don’t have to help load up, yeah?” Harry grinned down at Louis mischievously, and Louis couldn’t help but smile and nod back. 

“You’re positively horrible, Styles.” Louis laughed, climbing into the driver’s seat. As he turned the key in the ignition, Harry bent down into the car and pressed his lips to Louis’ cheek. 

“You love it.” Harry giggled and smiled cheekily before closing Louis’ door and running around the front of the car to hop into the passenger’s seat. And yeah, Louis really, really did love it. 

 

***

 

After returning home and putting away all the groceries—and keeping Niall from eating all of said groceries before they could be put away—Louis stayed true to his word and forced all they boys into a movie night. He had asked Liam if he wanted to watch The Dark Knight Rises but Liam had only shook his head and popped in the first DVD that contained the first handful of Teen Wolf episodes. They all settled onto the couch (thank god Liam was smart enough to buy a freakin’ huge one when they went furniture shopping a couple months back), Harry on one end with Louis somehow ending up wrapped up in his arms and cuddled against his side, Liam on the other end, and Niall sprawled out across the lot of them, his head in Liam’s lap and his feet in Harry and Louis’. 

The lights were off and Harry kept running his long fingers through Louis’ hair. So no one could really blame him when he passed out before the third episode even started. Harry just pushed Niall’s feet out of their laps—much to Niall’s displeasure—and shifted Louis into his lap. He fell asleep on his shoulder halfway through the same episode. 

***

Niall had been non-stop wiggles since leaving the grocery store. Liam couldn’t quite put his finger on what, but he knew something was wrong with the Irish lad and decided to ask when Harry and Louis had finally fallen asleep. 

“Hey, Ni?” Liam whispered as to not wake up the two cuddle bugs at the other end of the couch. 

“Yeah?” Niall wiggled again, his eyebrows furrowing as he buried his face in Liam’s thighs a bit. Liam tried not to think about that too much. 

“Why won’t you stop moving around? You’re comfortable, yeah?” 

Niall was silent for a long moment, considering his answer. Liam poked his shoulder and he sighed quietly. 

“Honestly?” Niall asked, his voice a bit deeper than normal. Liam blinked at him and ran his fingers through Niall’s bleached blond locks. Niall closed his eyes and bit his lip. 

“Yeah, Ni. Honestly.” Liam bit his lip too, but for a completely different reason than Niall. He was always so innocently clueless, even now. Niall smirked slightly and turned away from him, burrowing his head into Liam’s thighs again. Just when Liam was about to ask what Niall was doing, Niall bit gently on his inner thigh and Liam sucked in a breath, his sweats automatically getting a bit tighter. 

“I haven’t been very comfortable in a while, Li.” Niall whispered lowly, rolling over onto his stomach and nipping slowly up Liam’s clothed thighs. TV forgotten, Liam closed his eyes and dropped his head onto the back of the couch. 

“Anything I can do to help?” Liam asked, his voice already twice as low as normal. Niall smirked up at him, his bright blue eyes shining in the dark room, and slid off the couch and onto his knees in front of Liam. Gripping his thighs in his hands this time, Niall murmured,

“You can let me suck your cock.” 

With a quiet groan Liam had Niall up in his arms and was trudging up the stairs and into Liam’s room. Niall clung to him like a little koala, slowly grinding down on Liam’s semi with every step. When they finally reached his room, Liam shut the door before tossing Niall on his bed, already tugging off both his and Niall’s shirts. Once that deed was done, Liam climbed on top of Niall and quickly connected their lips. Niall’s hands found his hair as he opened his mouth for Liam’s tongue and let him take complete control of him. 

Well, until Liam kissed his way down Niall’s jaw and neck, somehow being able to multitask and tug Niall’s jeans down at the same time. Niall’s body seemed to have a mind of its own after that and his legs wrapped around Liam’s hips again only so he could grind up against him. Liam groaned at the friction, detaching his lips from Niall’s collarbone and admiring the dark purple bruise already formed there against Niall’s pale skin, before pulling back from Niall and bringing a whine from the boy’s throat. The whine was quickly transformed into a moan when Liam reached down and gripped Niall’s hard cock through his boxers. 

“How long have you been like this, huh?” Liam wondered aloud, his voice thick and low as he rubbed his hand against Niall. The Irish lad bit his lip met Liam’s dark gaze. 

“Since the store.” Niall’s eyes snapped shut when Liam’s hand wrapped even firmer around him. 

“When at the store?” 

“When Eleanor tried flashing Louis her tits.” Niall panted, bucking up into Liam’s hand. Liam smirked down at him and removed his hand. Niall’s eyes flew open at the loss of contact and darkened when he saw Liam pulling at the drawstring of his sweats. 

“So you like tits and pussy better than you do dick, huh?” Liam asked, dropping both his sweats and boxers in one tug. Niall watched with hungry eyes as Liam licked his hand before slowly starting to stroke himself. He groaned, both at the sight of Liam working himself harder and at Liam’s words. He absolutely loved it when Liam got lost in his lust like this and talked dirty to him. 

“Answer me.” Liam demanded, crawling back on top of Niall, this time moving up so he was straddling his face instead of his waist. “Tell me what you like more. Licking a pussy or sucking a cock?” 

Niall moaned again before answering. 

“Sucking your cock, Liam. Love sucking your cock.” Niall said compliantly. He knew it’s what Liam wanted to hear, and he honestly did love sucking dick. 

“Your suck a cock slut, Niall.” Liam chuckled, and then his cock was in Niall’s hot wet mouth and he couldn’t think about anything else. Niall tongued at his slit for a moment before wrapping his lips around Liam’s head, sucking at it gently then harder. Liam braced the headboard and forced himself to hold still, not wanting to hurt Niall. He did fine until Niall liked up the underside of his cock then whispered, 

“God, fuck my face, Li.” 

And then Liam’s sense was gone, and he was gripping Niall’s roots and holding him still, rocking his hips back and forth. Niall hollowed out his cheeks and sucked hard, not even gagging as Liam’s dick hit the back of his throat and farther. He let his tongue touch every piece of flesh it could, then stuck it out, knowing Liam would love the feeling of it hitting his balls on every thrust. And Liam did, moaning and tugging on Niall’s hair harder, his thrusts growing faster. 

“Ni, I’m gonna cum.” Liam warned, and not even a second later he was pulling Niall’s face against his pelvis and thrusting as far down Niall’s throat as he could go. Niall moaned around him and that was it, Liam was shooting down his throat. Slipping out of Niall’s mouth, Liam sat down against the headboard and tugged Niall up to him before throwing his boxers across the room. Niall’s dick slapped against his stomach and Liam tugged it a bit before reaching into his bedside table-drawer and pulling out a bottle of lube and a condom. Niall straddled his waist and nodded.

Slicking up his fingers, Liam quickly slid two fingers into Niall’s ass, knowing he could handle it. Niall moaned and dropped his head onto Liam’s shoulder, only taking a few minutes to adjust before Liam was working in a third finger. Kissing Niall’s shoulder Liam slipped the condom on and slicked himself up. Nudging Niall’s now-open hole, Liam waited patiently as Niall slowly slid his way all the way down Liam’s cock. Once Niall was sitting in his lap he wiggled his hips a bit, taking deep breaths and waiting for the stinging to go away. He felt so full and that feeling alone was enough to get him off but he wanted more than just that. He wanted to fuck himself on Liam’s dick till he couldn’t move then have Liam fuck him down into the mattress. 

Leaning forward, Liam kissed Niall sloppily until he was ready, and leaned back and placed his hands on Niall’s hips. 

“Ride me, baby.” 

Niall didn’t have to be told twice. 

***

Louis had woken up to Harry drooling on his shoulder, and Niall and Liam missing. If Harry wasn’t so damn cute Louis would have punched him, but instead he carefully wiggled out of his arms and let him cuddle his stupid throw pillow. Walking into the kitchen, Louis wondered where the two boys were. Waking up to them not cuddled against him and Harry after a movie night was weird, and not finding them in the kitchen was even weirder. 

A bang from upstairs made Louis jump, and he almost knocked over the fruit bowl. The stairway looked darker than normal, and Louis gulped. 

“Liam?” Louis called quietly, not wanting to wake up Harry. Which at that point, kind of seemed like a better idea than going upstairs by himself. But he was being stupid, and he couldn’t bring himself to wake the curly haired lad up. “Niall? Liam? God damn it, where are you guys?” 

There was another loud bang from upstairs, and Louis took a deep breath before heading up there. If he was going to die, at least he could say he was doing so trying to save his friends. 

At the top of the steps the banging could be heard repeatedly, like something continuously knocking against the wall. Louis prayed it wasn’t anyone’s head, and crept quietly towards Liam’s room where the sound was coming from. Something told him this was to stupidest idea he’s ever had, but he just chalked the feeling up to not bringing a weapon with him. Gripping the doorknob, his heart pounded as he slowly turned it and pushed it open slightly. 

What he saw next will forever scar him and his innocent mind. Liam had Niall on all fours, his face pressed into Liam’s pillows and his naked ass in the air. He had a grip on his hips, and boy was he using that grip. Standing at the foot of the bed Liam pounded into Niall from behind, earning him breathy whimpers every other thrust. Louis watched Liam’s (impressively large) cock ram into Niall’s pale ass a couple times with wide eyes, frozen to his spot, before he squealed. 

“Oh my fucking god!” Louis screamed, throwing the door open. Both Niall and Liam looked over at him, covered in sweat. But Liam didn’t stop thrusting and Niall didn’t stop panting, even when Liam’s eyes widened and he let out a breathy, 

“Louis?” 

Covering his eyes with his hand, Louis had had just about enough. 

“Harry!” Louis shrieked, grabbing the door and flinging it closed as he ran out. He almost fell down the stairs he was running so fast, and Harry had to catch him as he stumbled at the bottom step. He looked even cuter now with his hair all ruffled and his eyes wide with panic. Gripping Louis into his large hands he searched over him with his eyes. 

“What’s wrong, what happened?” Harry asked urgently, still looking over Louis for damages. Louis shook his head quickly and buried himself into Harry’s arms, who held on to him tightly. 

“Oh my God, it’s horrible, it’s so horrible.” Louis cried, rubbing his face into Harry’s chest and trying to wipe the picture of Liam fucking Niall senseless out of his head. 

“What, what’s horrible, Boo?” Harry ran his fingers through Louis’ hair before holding him out at arm’s length and meeting his eyes. “Please tell me what’s going on.” 

“Oh god, it’s horrible, Harry!” Louis shouted dramatically. “Liam—Liam, he’s…”

“Yes, Liam’s what? Is he okay?” Harry cocked an eyebrow and Louis gave a disgusted face and covered his eyes, the imagine still appearing in them. 

“Oh yeah, he’s okay alright. He’s fucking Niall down into his mattress, so I’m pretty sure he’s fucking peachy.” Louis barked out, causing Harry to flinch. He wasn’t expecting that to come out of Louis’ mouth at all. Liam’s getting murder or chopped to pieces, maybe. Not that. 

“He’s…he’s what?” Harry blinked down at Louis and Louis groaned, tugging on his hair dramatically and collapsing onto the couch. 

“He’s fucking Niall so hard he won’t even remember his own name!” Louis shouted, throwing in arm over his eyes. “This is absolutely horrible. My poor eyes, Harry. I opened the door because I thought they were being murdered and I see that! Oh my god I’m scarred forever.” 

Harry watched Louis with his green eyes wide and confused, and opened his mouth to say something when Zayn burst through the front door. Both boys looked over to see him watching them with crazy, panicked eyes. He looked mentally beat up and shaken, not to mention a little raggedy. Normally when he came back from a bar he looked stoned and drunk, not scared and sober.

“Lads, we have a problem.” 

“Tell me about it.” Louis groaned, flinging his arms in the air. There was no way Zayn could know about Liam and Niall yet, but that didn’t matter because a moment later they were tumbling down the stairs. They were both dressed thank god, but both of their hair was fucked up and Niall’s cheeks were redder than a tomato. 

“I’m not kidding. This is some serious—“ Zayn started, but cut himself off when he saw the looks on Liam and Niall’s faces. Louis bit his lip—they looked fucked out. 

“Zayn? What are you doing back so early?” Liam asked, his face reddening as he shot nervous glances at Niall who was still panting slightly and biting his lip. Zayn’s expression turned angry before he shook his head and held the front door open. 

“That’s not important. We have a problem.” When he didn’t automatically announce what said problem was, Louis rolled his eyes. 

“Well, out with it then!” 

And then Zayn stepped aside and a little three foot tall girl with brown pigtails stepped in, and every single person in that room knew they were fucked.


	2. Who The Fuck Is This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a kid and yeah

Who The Fuck Is This?

 

The room was silent for a long time. No one said anything—even breathed really—as they stared down at the chubby faced little girl with big round eyes. She watched all of them in return, blinking every time she looked at a different male. Her eyes zeroed in on Liam eventually, and he flinched backwards. Honestly he looked ready to bolt. 

“Who are you?” She asked, her voice high yet soft at the same time. Blinking her doe eyes at Liam, a small smile spread on her thin lips. 

“I…um.” Liam stuttered, causing the rest of the boys to stare at him. He shot Louis a helpless look, and Louis couldn’t handle it anymore. 

“Who the fuck is this?” Louis blurted, making everyone cringe. Harry let out a disgruntled noise and jumped behind the little girl, covering her ears. 

“Louis! You can’t curse in front of a little girl!” Harry stared over at him with a bewildered look, as if wondering how Louis ever thought that was a good idea. Louis was too busy panicking to worry about a crazy look from Harry though, or how cursing might corrupt the little girl. 

Speaking of which, the little girl wrapped her small hands around Harry’s and tugged them off her ears. 

“I’m not that young. I’m seven.” She gave Harry a duh look and rolled her eyes. They all blinked down at her in surprise, except for Zayn who just sighed and looked tired. 

“Sassy little thing, isn’t she?” Zayn murmured, leaning against the doorframe and gazing down at said sassy thing with a blank stare. He looked lost in his own mind, and Louis could practically feel Liam’s need to comfort him. 

“Besides,” Pigtails ignored Zayn and kept talking, “Mom used to curse all the time anyway. ‘S not like I’m not used to it.” She shrugged, looking almost as pitiful as Zayn. Louis couldn’t help but notice how she didn’t look anything like the raven-haired boy, nor like Harry who was still standing beside her, and Louis took that as a very good sign. 

“Who is your mommy, then?” Liam asked gently, crouching down to the little girl’s level. Her eyes got all doe-like again and anyone with eyes could so she was a least a little bit infatuated with him. Or, maybe a lot. “And your daddy? Where are they?” 

Then suddenly her bottom lip was trembling, and she was flinging herself into Liam’s arms. They all jumped to catch her, surprised by her actions apparently, as she started sobbing onto Liam’s shirt. 

“I-I don’t know where my mommy is. I haven’t seen her in a few days and…and I-I’m scared.” She whimpered pathetically, clinging harder onto Liam. He held her tightly against him, glancing at the rest of the boys as she cried. They all sent him hurt looks, not liking seeing the girl cry. Zayn caught Liam’s eyes and quickly looked away, shrugging at the floor. 

“I don’t know, mate. I found her crying outside the bar and I couldn’t just leave her there, man. She said she couldn’t find her mom and I just—I had to bring her here.” Zayn spouted sadly, slumping even farther into the wall. He seemed genuinely upset and Louis couldn’t tell if it was from the little girl’s situation or the fact that Liam and Niall still looked like sex addicts. Which Louis wasn’t even sure anymore, they might just be. 

“Shh, it’s okay love.” Liam cooed into her ear, rubbing her back. She sniffled a bit, before burying farther into Liam’s arms. “You’re okay now, yeah?” 

“What’s your name, babe?” Niall spoke up for the first time, sitting down on the floor next to Liam and patting softly at the girl’s hair. Louis had never seen him so gentle, heard him being so quiet. He felt like he was in the twilight zone. A nudge at his shoulder had him looking next to him after that, and he noticed the crushed look Harry was giving him. Seeing a little girl all beaten up was very visibly upsetting him, and Louis’ heart broke as he wrapped the taller lad up in his arms. Harry leaned on his shoulder and all but clung to his shirt, trying to hold himself together. 

“A-Annabelle.” She mumbled into Liam’s shirt. They both smiled down at her, Niall giving a playful tug to one of her pigtails. 

“That’s a very pretty name.” Niall complimented, earning him a smile followed by a soft giggle. Liam looked up at Niall and beamed his own smile, obviously pleased at how quickly he could get her to laugh. Louis spared a glance at Zayn then to see him burning daggers into Niall’s head. Harry must have noticed the same because he nipped at Louis’ shoulder at get his attention and whispered, 

“That’s going to be a problem, huh?” 

Louis only sighed and cuddled Harry in closer. 

“Well Annabelle, you can spend the night here if you don’t have anywhere to go.” Liam offered hopefully. The child nodded her head quickly and clung to Liam even harder, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling in. 

“Oh, thank you! I haven’t had anywhere to go since mom left—we don’t live around here so I don’t even really know where I am. It’s so scary outside.” Annabelle shivered and closed her eyes. “But its okay, I’m just glad I’m not alone anymore.” 

And then Harry was crying silently into Louis’ shoulder, hiding his face from everyone and Annabelle was holding Liam out at arm’s length and biting her lip nervously. 

“Do you…do you think I could take a bath, too? I haven’t really been able to since mom…” She trailed off when Liam started nodding quickly. 

“Sure love, anything you need. Are you hungry?” Liam questioned, still holding on to Annabelle. Her eyes lit up and she nodded, her stomach rumbling at the mention of food. “Alright. Harry will go make you something to eat while you take a bath, okay?” Liam pointed at Louis’ baby koala, and Annabelle watched him with tears still lingering in her eyes. Harry straightened and unlatched himself from Louis at the mention of his name, quickly swiping away his tears. Annabelle’s eyes widened and she gave Harry a worried look. 

“Are you okay? Why are you crying?” Annabelle stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. Harry shook his head and gave her what Louis could tell was his best smile at the moment. 

“I’m okay, love. Don’t worry about me; I’ll be alright.” Harry explained, still sounding a bit shaky and upset. He had a big heart, that one, especially for kids, and Louis couldn’t help but wanting to punch him. He was just so wonderful. And infuriating. 

Annabelle’s pout only worsened. 

“It’s not good to keep your feelings in. You should just let them out—you’ll feel better!” Annabelle reasoned, smiling at Harry when he broke into a more genuine grin. Louis may have faltered and stopped breathing a bit, but don’t worry, he was okay. 

“Thanks for telling me so, love. But I promise I’m okay.” 

Annabelle seemed to believe him then but continued to stare. Louis’ ashamed to say he felt a bit threatened. 

“So you’re Harry, right?” 

Harry grinned some more and pointed at Louis. 

“Yeah, and this is Louis.” 

Louis still couldn’t bring himself to say much of anything, instead settling for a small smile and a little wave. Annabelle didn’t seem to mind though and returned both. Harry continued on, pointing at each boy in turn. 

“The boy you’ve been hugging is Liam, and the blond lad is Niall.” They both grinned at her, and then Harry pointed at Zayn. “And that’s—“ 

“Oh, I know Zayn already.” Annabelle interrupted him, shooting Zayn a broad smile. Zayn returned it, some sparkle returning to his eyes if only for a moment. “He was my first new friend, right Zayn?” 

“That’s right, love.” The warm look never left his face as he smiled at her. “How about that shower then, yeah? I can smell you from over here.” Zayn teased, making Annabelle roll her eyes. 

“Oh, I don’t even smell that bad, you liar.” But she took Zayn’s hand when it was offered anyway, letting herself be tugged out of Liam’s arms and up the stairs to the bigger bathroom. When they were out of sight, silence settled into the room again. Some were afraid to speak, and the others were trying to think of what to say. 

Louis was pissed. He was absolutely ready to murder someone and he knew every person left in that room could feel it. Anytime he got like this the boys knew he’d wait till someone said something to just blow up, so Liam and Niall both kept their mouths shut. Trying to prolong the inevitable, mostly. They weren’t even sure if the anger was directed at them or not, but they weren’t exactly willing to find out. Harry seemed to be the only one ready to try and brave the lion. 

But by the time Zayn was coming back down the stairs, no one had tried speaking and Louis was even more pissed than before. 

“Okay, Annabelle’s in the shower. She said she knew what she was doing so I just left her in there with some of my clothes and—“ Zayn climbed down the steps and stopped to look around when he noticed the silence. Liam and Niall had all but backed themselves into the corner—literally, and Liam watched Louis while he bit nervously at his nails. Niall was panicking as well, made obvious by his wide eyes and his tell—his tongue sticking out of the corner of his lips. The only times he was ever really upset was when one of the boys was mad at him, and it was always worse when the boy was Louis. 

Zayn was happy he had swallowed his tongue when he saw Louis and Harry. Harry was watching Louis with wide, worried eyes and looked like he wanted to reach out to him but wasn’t sure if he should. Louis was—oh god, Louis was visibly seething. The sound of someone speaking had finally set him off and his shoulders shook with how hard he was trying to keep everything in. He wanted to just explode, but he knew physically scarring his best mates might not be a good idea. Even though he really, really wanted to. His head was ducked so far down that his chin was almost placed on his chest, his hair falling in front of him so no one could see his eyes. That’s what worried Harry the most—not being able to see his eyes. Louis wore his heart on his sleeve and you could see every emotion he was feeling flash through his eyes if you looked hard enough. 

“Lou?” Harry asked warily, taking a step closer to Louis and reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder. The other boys tensed, knowing now would be the time to run. 

“Harry, I wouldn’t.” Liam warned quietly. Everyone heard him though with the room being so quiet, and Louis finally looked up at him. The fire they all knew would be there burned deep and bright in his blue eyes, and they all knew they were fucked. No one was entirely which situation ticked him off more, Liam and Niall screwing or Zayn bringing a mysterious kid home without the consent of the others. Louis gripped on to Harry’s hand, making him jump but he held on tightly back anyway. He scowled at Liam.

“Oh, of course not. You’d rather just sit back and watch everything happen and not say anything to anyone.” Louis snapped, his remark cutting Liam pretty deep. Liam knew exactly what Louis was implying by this and his face turned red. 

“That’s not what we’re talking about, Louis.” Liam ground through his teeth. He was getting mad just like Louis knew he would, just like Louis wanted. So he smirked deviously, watching Liam with belittling eyes. 

“Oh, but it should be what we’re talking about. Things would go a lot smoother around here if we did.” Louis’ eyes traveled from Liam’s heated gaze over to Niall behind him, scrutinizing him for a moment then back to Liam. “Or they would’ve if this little party you two are having didn’t occur.” 

Liam and Niall’s faces both paled, Liam looking at Louis with pleading eyes. 

“Louis, don’t.” He begged, the anger slipping from his tone and his stare flicking to Zayn every few seconds. 

“Why not? This night can’t get any fucking worse! Why not tell everybody about this mayhem! Let’s get everybody involved!” Louis shouted, his heart beating so fast he thought he might pass out. He saw the understanding flicker through Liam’s eyes only a moment later and he leaned back. Louis set his jaw and tried not to punch him. 

“That’s what this is about? Because I didn’t tell you?” 

“What else would it be about, Liam? I don’t care that your—“ Louis quickly caught himself at almost letting the cat out of the bag to Zayn—who hadn’t moved a muscle, just watching the whole scene with wide eyes—before continuing on with his rant and flinging his arms around everywhere. “I don’t care about what’s happening. What I care about is the fact that you apparently don’t trust me enough to just tell me about it! We’re best fucking friends Liam and you kept something like this from me! How is that supposed to make me feel?” 

Niall and Liam both ducked their heads, Liam still watching Louis with his puppy dog eyes. 

“Lou, it’s not that big of a deal—“ 

“Not that big of a deal? Of course it’s a big deal! Because now I know that I can’t be trusted and secrets are being kept from me! Harry’s hair could be a fucking wig for all you’ve been telling me!” Louis flung an arm out towards Harry, who ducked out of the way and gripped a panicked hand to his curls. “You haven’t talked to me in weeks and I’ve been so damn worried about you but I guess it doesn’t even matter! Just keep holding shit in and away from me, its okay.” 

“I didn’t tell you because I knew you would’ve reacted like this!” Liam tried to get Louis to calm down, but the boy could never lie and that was obvious to everyone. 

“Bullshit, Liam!” Louis’ eyebrows pinched and he held his breath for a moment, dreading his next question. “How long?” 

Liam’s eyes snapped up to his and he looked ready to cry. 

“How long, Liam. At least tell me that.” 

“Th-Three months.” Liam stuttered out, biting his lip. Louis leaned back, letting Liam’s words settle in. Three months. For three months two of his best mates had been screwing around with each other and hadn’t even bothered to tell him. Louis’ face burned red and he was back to yelling. 

“Three fucking months? Three fucking months and you—“ 

“Louis, lay off mate. I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal.” Zayn cut in then, stepping in front of Liam protectively and watching Louis like he was trying to fit the pieces of what was going on together in his mind. He picked possibly the worst time to step in, because Louis just straight skipped the rest of what he was going to yell at Liam and turned his rage onto Zayn. 

“And you!” Louis growled, making Zayn cringe a bit. “I already chewed your ass out this morning about ditching us days on end so I was happy when you actually fucking came home tonight. But then all of a sudden here’s this little girl—“

“Did you just want me to fucking leave her? She was crying outside of a bloody bar, Louis! Someone could’ve—“ Zayn always was a hell of a lot feistier than Liam.

“I know that, Zayn! I didn’t say I was mad you for picking her up before someone else did; I’m mad because you didn’t even fucking warn us, or bother trying to explain yourself. She could be fucking yours for all we know so far.” Louis threw his hands in the air, exasperated. He’d done so much shouting today he was getting light-headed. That didn’t keep him from rolling his eyes though. 

“Oh, she’s not mine, Louis.” Zayn rolled his eyes right back. Louis crossed his arms over his chest, only feeling slightly better. He wasn’t going to yell anymore, which they should be happy for. 

“Then whose is she?” 

“I don’t know, like I said I found her outside the bar, crying. I tried helping her look for her mom a bit but after a couple hours we gave up and I brought her here.” Zayn was back to looking pitiful, and Liam turned his puppy dog eyes on him. 

“You’ve been helping her look for her mom since you left for the bar?” Liam asked, looking a mix between being in awe and looking guilty. All he could think about was how he and Niall had been fucking around—literally—while Zayn was helping a poor child find their mother. Zayn shrugged. 

“Yeah. I couldn’t leave her there and I didn’t know where else to take her. That adoption agency is too far away a drive at night and besides, you all know how badly they treat the kids there.” Zayn took turns gazing at the others with sad eyes and if Louis wasn’t still a bit angry he would have felt bad. 

“You were right to bring her here, at least for tonight.” Liam reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. It was quick for a second, before Harry blurted, 

“Are we going to keep her, then?” His eyes were hopeful, but everyone turned to look at him like he was crazy. 

“She’s not a dog, Harry.” Louis chided, grinning slightly when Harry stuck out is bottom lip and blinked at him. 

“I know that. But seriously—is she staying with us then?” He looked at the others then, and they all looked unsure. 

“We don’t know how to take care of children.” Zayn told him gently. Louis found himself nodding to agree with Zayn against his will. 

“And this isn’t exactly a kid-friendly place.” He shot daggers at Niall and Liam again, before turning his glare on Zayn. Liam at least had the decency to blush and look embarrassed—Niall and Zayn just shrugged. Harry shook his head and talked basically to Louis, but his gaze flickered around the room to the rest of them. 

“We could make it kid-friendly though, yeah? And Lou, you and Zayn both have little sisters—you know how to take care of little girls.” He pointed at Liam and Niall. “And you both did well with her only a while ago.”

“Well sure, but just hanging around a little girl and actually taking care of one are two different things. There are so many responsibilities to it that I don’t think any of us are ready for.” Liam explained calmly, his arms crossed in thought.

“We’ll never know that unless we try.” Harry persisted. 

“She’s not some sport you can get better at if you practice, Harry. This is a little girl’s whole life we’re talking about here. If we fuck up, she’ll take the brunt of it, not us.” Zayn looked at Harry hard, trying to get his point across. Harry’s eyebrows furrowed and his bottom lip stuck out even farther. Louis kind of really wanted to bite it. 

“I know all that. But I think we can handle it.” Harry said, voice full of hope. A thought struck Louis. 

“Again Harry, she’s not a puppy. She does still have a mom somewhere; we can’t just let her live here. It’d be like kidnapping.” Louis reasoned, making Harry turn his full pout to him. Louis really couldn’t handle his face looking so sad, and was about ready to blurt that Annabelle could stay and Harry could tie Louis to his own bed and have his way with him, but thankfully someone else spoke up before he could. 

“Yeah but what if we never find her mom? Could she stay then?” Niall asked, his voice now dripping with hope as well. He hadn’t spoken until now, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, and Louis had almost forgotten he was there. They all glanced around at each other then, waiting for someone to disapprove. No one wanted to actually see the little girl go—at least not if they didn’t find her mother. The adoption center the couple towns over really was shit, and they weren’t about to send the poor girl there. Liam sighed, rubbing his brow. 

“Let’s just wait and look for her mom for now, yeah? No reason to get your hopes up otherwise. If we don’t find her mother in a week’s time then we’ll talk about that.” Liam waited till everyone gave their approvals before nodding. “Alright then. Those of us who don’t work early tomorrow should go look around town for any missing children posters and stuff of that nature.” 

“I should probably go check on her.” Zayn said after a moment, already turning to go back up the stairs. Louis watched Liam stare as Zayn left and rolled his eyes. 

“Come on, Haz. Gotta make the little girl something to eat, yeah?” Louis mumbled, grabbing Harry’s hand in both of his and tugging on it when Harry didn’t budge. He was watching Louis with that dazed look he had at the grocery store and it was making Louis nervous. Finally he nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah, Lou, I do.” 

“Well, come on, then.” 

Harry let himself be dragged out of the living room and into the kitchen. Louis ignored the curious stares he was getting from his fellow flat mates. He couldn’t deal with them—not now. Normally he would’ve gone back to yelling at them, but he was too tired. They were all keeping secrets from him apparently, and he didn’t think he could handle that. These were his closest friends, but if they didn’t trust him enough to talk to him, then maybe they weren’t as close as he thought. And that hurt Louis more than anything. 

Dropping Harry’s hand, Louis moved to sit up on the counter. Harry let him, used to Louis just watching him cook instead of helping. He didn’t mind and liked it for the most part, even the days when Louis spent the whole time complaining or picking on him. He had just pulled things out to make Annabelle a sandwich—he figured it would be enough to fill her at least until the morning, since it was already pretty late and she didn’t need to be eating so much before bed—when Louis spoke again. 

“Do you need any help?” Louis whispered, his voice carrying to Harry in the quiet room. Harry jumped, surprised at both Louis’ voice and his words. He turned to him, his surprise evident on his face. Louis giggled at him, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“You…You want to help me cook? You suck at cooking.” Harry blurted before pinching his eyes shut. That wasn’t what he meant to say at all. What he meant was that Louis never helped cook because he hated it. Why did he hate it? Because he sucked at it. The few times he’d tried, he almost burned the house down. Literally, the fire department came and everything. Louis jumped down from the counter and Harry could hear his laugh tinkle through the room. He patted on Harry’s reddened cheek and gave him a genuine smile. 

“Well thanks Harry, I always love getting compliments from you.” Louis grumbled sarcastically, giving Harry a little shove on his chest. Harry grinned brightly down at him. 

“I know you do; I’m irresistible.” Harry’s smile only brightened when Louis rolled his eyes and poked one of his dimples. 

“Of course you are, Curly. Now, what do you need help with?” Louis rolled up his imaginary sleeves and turned to face the food on the counter. Harry continued to blink his big green eyes at him until Louis bumped his hip with his own. “Well? I can change my mind.”

“You seriously want to help?” 

“Well, no, not exactly.” Louis shrugged, “But I figured endangering everyone’s lives would distract me from…well, everything.” Louis murmured, almost succeeding in breaking Harry’s heart. He looked down at his bare feet against the tile floor, and Harry reached forward to gently grab his chin and pull Louis’ attention back up to him. Louis’ eyes were wide and his heart beat fast, but he tried to ignore it. Harry gazed down at him, his eyes searching Louis’. 

“I know things are a little crazy, but you’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay.” Harry assured him, slipping an arm around his waist. It took everything in Louis to keep from molding himself against Harry. 

“I know we’ll be fine, it’s just—I wish they would have told me, you know? Like what they did isn’t that big of a deal and I know that, but the fact that they didn’t tell me—that’s what upsets me.” Louis confessed, letting him when Harry tugged him closer to cuddle. He nuzzled his face into Harry’s neck and wrapped his arms around his middle, feeling Harry’s chin on top of his head—why was this boy so damn tall? He made Louis feel tiny, but he also felt protected and secure in his arms. 

“It’s okay, Boo. I don’t know why they didn’t tell you—or, either of us for that matter—but I’m sure there was a reason, and not the reason you’re thinking. We’re all still best mates; we’re all still close. Something like this can’t split us apart, yeah?” Harry felt Louis nod against his neck and shoulder and thought that would be it, but Louis kept talking. 

“You’re right—I know you’re right, Harry. This is a stupid thing to be mad over. But what if that’s not all there keeping from us, you know? If they didn’t tell us about this, I wonder what other things they haven’t told us about.” Harry shook his head at Louis and pulled him back a bit so he could look him in the eyes. 

“You can’t think like that, Lou. Like I said, we’re all best mates. We tell each other almost everything and keeping one secret won’t kill us. If it was important, they’d tell us.” Harry watched Louis nod before he buried back into Harry’s arms again. 

“Alright, I get what you’re saying. I’m just being over-dramatic.” Louis grumbled. Harry grinned and poked his side. 

“Reasonable. You saw some of your best mates fucking each other. I’m pretty sure you have the right to be a bit over dramatic.” Harry smiled wider when he heard Louis laugh again before he released him and hopped back onto the counter. 

“They’re not getting an apology.” He said snootily, only making Harry laugh. 

“That’s alright.” Harry turned to the counter where the food was at and pulled out two pieces of bread. “You still want to help?”   
It was a stupid question, really. 

“Of course not.” Louis rolled his eyes before starring down at Harry like he had lost his mind. He kind of liked it up there—up on the counter where he was actually a bit taller than Harry. It was a nice change and made his neck feel slightly better. Harry laughed and threw him the finger, cutting a bit of tomato for the sandwich. A thought hit him, and Louis watched his eyebrows furrow as he stopped and looked up at him. 

“Do you think she likes tomatoes?” Harry asked, genuinely worried as if the little girl would throw the whole sandwich in his face if it had something she didn’t like in it. Louis gazed at him fondly and nodded. 

“Probably. She doesn’t look picky. And if not she can just take it off.” Louis explained while Harry bit his lip. 

“What about lettuce?” 

“Yeah, babe. Like I said, she can just take it off.” Louis really couldn’t handle this anymore. Harry was just being so cute and Louis can never really keep his hands off him when he’s like this—all worried and childlike. Reaching over Louis ran his fingers through Harry’s unruly curls, smoothing out the bit of bed-head he had from their nap. Harry closed his eyes for a moment, just letting Louis tug on his hair a bit and massage his scalp. But then he remembered he had a sandwich to finish and reopened his eyes to do so, but left Louis’ fingers where they were. 

When Harry finished making the sandwich Louis dropped his hand so Harry could clean up, which he did faster than Louis had ever seen him. Not even two minutes later Harry was in front of him, stepping between his knees and bending over to nudge at Louis’ hand with his head. Louis laughed loudly, genuinely caught off guard by Harry’s actions. The green eyed boy just grinned at him before nudging Louis’ hand again. 

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” Louis giggled, picking his hand up and running it through Harry’s hair again. Harry sighed happily and closed his eyes, leaning into Louis’ touch. “You’re such a needy child, curly. I don’t know how your mother ever dealt with you.” 

“She loves me.” Harry murmured, eyes still closed and a content smile on his face. Louis chuckled. 

“I’m aware—you’re spoiled rotten. You’re like a kitten, Hazza.” 

Harry opened his eyes again to meow playfully, and Louis was pretty sure he just found one of his new kinks. Thankfully, the rest of the lads walked in right after that. 

“Oi, Louis, what are you doing, mate?” Zayn questioned with a small smile when all Harry did was turn around and lean against Louis so he could continue petting him. Louis raised his eyebrow at him. 

“Petting my cat, obviously.” Louis shrugged as if to say duh and tugged on Harry’s ear. “But I think you’ve been given enough love now, don’t you think, kitten?” 

Harry automatically pouted, turning back around to face Louis and wrapping him into a way-too-tight hug. 

“No!” Harry shouted. Louis rolled his eyes, trying to get air into his lungs. 

“How the hell am I supposed to breathe if—“ 

“You guys have a cat?” Annabelle stumbled in clumsily with Niall, her doe-eyes searching the room for a kitten she wouldn’t find. Her hair was still wet and soaking the collar of one of Zayn’s smaller T-shirts. It was still huge on her, but it would work as pajamas.

“Um, no babe. They were just comparing Harry to a cat because he’s likes to sleep and get a lot of attention.” Niall explained with a chuckle. Annabelle looked to him in the kitchen doorway, then back at Harry, examining him closely. Hazel eyes scrutinized Harry like a science experiment and he shrunk in on himself a bit, leaning his back against Louis. In an attempt to comfort him, Louis rubbed his hand gently against his back in a way that the others couldn’t see. Harry relaxed, and Annabelle smiled. 

“Yeah, I can see that. Kitten Harry!” Annabelle laughed and Harry’s face split into a wide grin. All he ever wanted was others’ approval, Louis noticed. 

“Hey.” Louis pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Only I can call him that. He’s my kitten.” 

Harry turned his pretty smile to Louis, and Louis just wanted to kiss him there in front of everyone. But of course Zayn screwed up his plans. 

“Getting jealous over there Lou, huh?” Zayn winked. Louis shot him the finger and Liam scolded them both. They ignored him, as did Annabelle, who ignored everything but what Louis had told her. 

“Well he’s not anymore. He’s my pet kitten too, now. You know how to share, right?” Annabelle raised a playful eyebrow at Louis, whose mouth fell open. Niall burst out laughing, so hard that he had to grip a hand onto the table to keep standing. Zayn wasn’t doing much better, and Liam started to laugh before he saw the look on Louis’ face. 

“You little—“ 

“Louis, she’s only seven, remember? You can’t cuss her out like a mobster.” Liam rolled his eyes, a small smile on his lips, and Louis blew out a long breath to keep from strangling the little girl. No one was allowed to be sassy but him, and definitely no one was allowed to be sassy to him. So he just settled for death threats instead, which didn’t exactly deny Liam’s claim of him trying to be a mobster. 

“Whatever. Just eat your damn sandwich and be quiet before I put your hair back into pig tails and hang you from the ceiling fan.” Louis shot Annabelle a dirty look when she just giggled and shrugged. 

“Louis.” Harry chided, slapping Louis’ knee. Louis gave him a dirty look too, before wrapping his arms around him and yanking him closer when Annabelle walked towards them. 

“Mine.” Louis hissed, clinging onto Harry. Annabelle giggled some more and Louis found himself smiling back against his will. 

“I’m not trying to take him from you; I’m just looking for the sandwich. You made it, right Harry?” Annabelle asked, being too short to actually see up onto the counter. Harry, who had already nuzzled himself into Louis’ neck, only let out a muffled, 

“Yeah, ‘did.” 

Annabelle gave the boys a blank look full of attitude when neither by moved to help her find the sandwich, Louis still holding Harry possessively and Harry hugging back on cloud nine. Eventually Zayn groaned. 

“Alright you two, give her the damn sandwich already.” Zayn commanded. Harry jumped back into reality then, pulling away from Louis and grabbing the sandwich plate. 

“Sorry love, here you go.” Harry handed Annabelle her sandwich and they smiled at each other before Annabelle hurried over to the table to sit down. Picking up the first piece of bread to see what was in it, Louis cringed. Harry bit his lip nervously. 

“I didn’t know if you—“

“How did you know I liked tomatoes?” Annabelle cut Harry off with a wide grin, bouncing a bit in her seat. “No one ever puts it on my sandwiches at restaurants and stuff ‘cause they think I’m too little to like it. I’m glad you’re smart!” Annabelle took a huge bite in to her sandwich, and then Louis was looking down at Harry with a smug smile. Harry rolled his eyes at him. 

“Oi, Harry did you make me one too?” Niall asked suddenly, walking up to the counter and searching around. When he didn’t find anything he pouted. “Harry! Why didn’t you make me one?” 

“You didn’t ask!” Harry shouted, sounding exasperated. He flung his arms into the air. “How am I supposed to know you want one if you don’t ask?”

“Because you know I’m always hungry!” Niall retorted, flinging his arms right back. 

“Fine, I’ll make you a damn sandwich!” 

“Hey Harry, make me one too while you’re at it.” Zayn teased, leaning against the counter. He earned himself a death glare from Harry. 

“Does anyone else want one as well? Speak up now!” Harry was doing his arm-fling thing again, and Liam just smiled and shrugged. 

“May as well make a bunch, mate.” Liam laughed. Harry’s jaw almost hit the floor and he looked at everyone like they were crazy. Another arm fling. 

“What am I, the cooking slave?” Harry complained, turning around and taking everything back out to make more sandwiches. They all laughed at his predicament, earning them all another glare. 

“Oh remember I don’t like mayonnaise on mine.” Louis smirked when Harry completely flipped his shit then, kicking them all out of the kitchen and to the table with Annabelle, who still hadn’t taken a second bite of her sandwich because she’d been laughing too hard. 

“That’s it, all of you out! Niall, get your hands out the chips and get out. Take them with you for all I care, just leave.” Harry moved around the island to force Niall out, but Niall grinned and gripped his chip bag before scurrying into the dining room. Liam and Zayn hurried out after that, Harry threatening them as well. The only one who didn’t move was Louis, and Harry wasn’t about to play favorites. “Hey, you too, Louis. Get your fat ass off my counter and get out.” Harry made a shooing motion with his hands. Jaw on the ground, Louis slid off the counter and glared at Harry. 

“Now you leave my ass out of this, curly. It has done absolutely nothing to you.” Louis stuck his nose in the air. Harry rolled his eyes. 

“I’m aware of that, thank you. Now get out.” 

“Nope.” 

“Louis.” 

“No.” 

“Fine, you asked for it.” Harry threatened. Louis rolled his eyes before closing them, his nose still high in the air. 

“Oh, you won’t do anything to me—ow!” Louis jumped a couple inches into the air, swinging his hand behind him and swatting Harry’s hand away. Harry was laughing, having just pinched Louis’ ass, and Louis was ready to shave his curls off. 

“God damn it, Harry, that hurt—“ 

“Then get out!” 

“But Harry—“ And then Harry was slapping Louis’ ass, making him scurry across the room and into the dining room. “Fine, I’m out!” Louis stuck his tongue at him, and Harry just smiled back before getting to work. 

“Liam, sit next to me!” Annabelle squealed, tugging on Liam’s hand. Smiling down at her he obliged, Niall sinking into the seat on her other side. 

“Oi, what am I, then? I’m your rescuer, not them!” Zayn cried, sitting down across from Niall. Annabelle giggled again, watching Zayn with sparkling eyes as she shrugged. Louis plopped his probably now-red ass into the seat across from Liam. 

“You’re just a man whore.” Louis said simply. Zayn shot him a glare before bopping him upside the head. “God damn it, Malik!” 

And then they were wrestling, Louis having jumped seats to hit Zayn and ending up in a headlock. Niall jumped in next, literally doing nothing but jumping on them. 

“Fucking leprechauns!” Zayn groaned, shoving Niall off only to be tackled by Louis. Still sitting in her chair next to Liam, Annabelle laughed so hard she was crying. 

“Are they always like this?” She chuckled, turning to Liam. He smiled warmly down at her, before looking warily at the three boys who were now wrestling on the tile floor. 

“Yeah, they are. They’re a bit of a handful, don’t you think?” 

Annabelle smiled and nodded. 

“It’s okay, though. They’re funny.” Annabelle watched the boys until the smiled slipped from her face. “I bet you guys have a lot of fun here.” 

“Yeah, I suppose we do. Hey, what’s wrong?” Liam frowned, putting an arm around Annabelle’s chair and leaning down a bit to see her ducked face. She just shrugged. 

“’S just that, me and mom never got to do much fun stuff. She was always too busy or too tired. I had to do fun things by myself.” Annabelle shrugged again and Liam just wanted to hug her. Instead he rubbed a hand on her little back and tried to give her an encouraging smile. 

“That’s okay. You can just have fun with us now, yeah? There isn’t a dull moment in this house.” Liam said that last bit warily, remembering all the weird things that had gone on today, even without the arrival of Annabelle. She seemed to miss his sour tone, though. 

“Yeah, I’ll just have a lot of fun here to make up for it!” Annabelle smiled again, and Liam felt better. Harry stepped into the kitchen then, a large plate full of sandwiches in one hand and a normal sized plate with only two on it in the other. 

“Get your asses off the floor and come eat.” Harry told the wrestling boys. No surprise who was the first one hoping up into their seat: Niall. He was already taking his second bite by the time Zayn and Louis made it back to their spots at the table, Harry between them. He set the plate of two sandwiches in front of Louis, who glared at him before crossing his arms and turning to face in the opposite direction. Harry groaned. 

“Louis, don’t be like that. Look, I made you special sandwiches ‘cause you don’t like mayonnaise.” Harry tried to bribe him, but Louis wasn’t having it. “Pleeeease?” Harry whined. Glancing back at him, Louis stuck his tongue out. 

“Say you’re sorry.” 

Harry groaned again, leaning his elbow on the table. 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Better?” 

Louis shrugged and turned back to the table, taking a bite of his sandwich. Harry smiled at him hopefully, and Louis rolled his eyes before kissing his cheek. 

“Yes Harry, you’re forgiven and the sandwiches are good. Now quit looking at me like that.” Louis was trying to act mad, but mostly he just liked the attention. He caught Niall’s eyes long enough to see them roll at him before he smirked. Asshole. 

“Cuddle later, yeah?” Harry asked, still starring hopefully over at Louis. Louis glanced at the boys again to see if they’d heard anything. When it seemed like they hadn’t Louis nodded at Harry with a soft smile. 

“Yeah, Haz.” 

Harry’s big smile split his face again before he dug into a sandwich. From across the table, Annabelle tugged on Liam’s sleeve. When he looked down at her she waved her hand, wanting him to lean closer. 

“Are they together?” Annabelle whispered into Liam’s ear when he leaned over. He looked down at her, wondering if he should even really be taking about something like this to her. Eventually he just figured why not and said, 

“No, they’re not. They tend to act like a couple though.” Liam glanced back at the two, watching as Harry’s eyes flicked to Louis every now and then.

“Do you have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?” Annabelle asked. Liam blinked down at her, surprised at how okay she seemed to be with gay couples. It wasn’t all the time he met carefree children like her. 

“I—no, I don’t.” Liam blushed at his answer, his eyes subconsciously flicking to Zayn. Sure, he and Niall hooked up every now and then but it wasn’t anything big. They both knew it was only for the sake of getting off, and neither seemed to mind. Zayn was the one Liam really wanted to be with, and he prayed Annabelle wouldn’t pick up on that from his look. But the girl wasn’t just carefree, she was smart, and Liam knew he was caught when she smirked at him before turning to Niall.

“Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, Niall?” Annabelle blurted, her voice louder than before and a smug smile on her lips when everyone turned to gawk at her. Niall choked on his sandwich for a moment, looking a bit uncomfortable. 

“No. No—why?” Niall answered, his tone hesitant. Annabelle shrugged. 

“What about you, Zaynie?” 

Zayn grinned at the nickname, but shook his head. 

“He just likes to shag people. Not quite the relationship type.” Louis chimed in, ducking when Zayn threw a tomato slice at him. It didn’t help much though, because Liam kicked him in the shin a moment later. “Owh, you fucker!” 

“Damn it, Louis.” Zayn complained, still on the shagging comment. Louis glared at Liam who grinned happily into his sandwich. 

“What’s ‘shag’ mean?” Annabelle asked, returning to her almost-forgotten sandwich. It was Liam’s turn to choke on his food, earning an evil laugh from Louis. 

“Um. Don’t worry about it, babe. Just eat your sandwich, yeah?” Niall told her. Annabelle pouted, but did as he said. When everyone was finished, Zayn was polite enough to pick up everyone’s trash and throw it away. 

“Alright love, time for bed.” Liam yawned, starting a long chain of it. The only one who didn’t was Louis, and that’s only because he physically forced himself not to. Harry grabbed a wet rag to wipe the table, his housewife side showing. 

“She can sleep in my room. It’s pretty clean, and I think I might stay up watching a few movies in the living room anyway.” Harry told Liam as he wiped the table. 

“You sure, Haz?” Liam questioned, a worried look on his face. Typical Liam. 

“Yeah, it’s fine. The couch is comfy.” His eyes flicked to Louis then, and Louis couldn’t help the blush that covered his cheeks. Liam rolled his eyes and nodded. 

“Alright then, weirdo. Annabelle, go ahead and say goodnight to everyone and then I’ll show you to Harry’s room.” Liam instructed with a smile. Annabelle nodded and flung herself into Niall’s arms first. Laughing he hugged her back and kissed his forehead. 

“Goodnight, leprechaun.” Annabelle giggled at the nickname she had picked up on. “Why do they call you that?” 

“It’s ‘cause I’m Irish and they’re weird. Goodnight, babe.” Niall smiled before letting her go. She skipped to Zayn next, throwing herself into his arms as well. He held her close, burying his face into her hair and kissing her cheek. It was obvious he was already attached to her, but it was hard not to be. 

“You go have a good night’s sleep, alright love?” Zayn told her, setting her back on the floor. 

“Alright Zaynie.” She nodded then walked over to Harry. Squatting down when motioned to, Harry laughed and let Annabelle play with his curls. “Goodnight Louis’ kitten.” Annabelle giggled (which seemed to be a normal occurrence) when Harry and Louis both grinned widely at her. 

“’Night, love.” Harry kissed her forehead and then Annabelle was in front of Louis, easily climbing into his lap. Louis only blinked in surprise and let her whisper in his ear. 

“When are you and Harry gonna be boyfriends? ‘Cause when you do, I can have Harry as my kitten, right? That way we can share.” Annabelle smiled at Louis’ wide-eyed look, and welcomed the hug and kiss to the forehead when it came. 

“Whatever you say, cat-stealer.” Louis avoided her question, but she didn’t seem to mind. She only giggled again before hopping out of Louis’ lap and running over to grab Liam’s hand. 

“Mkay, I’m ready to go to bed now, Liam.” 

“Alright. Goodnight, mates.” Liam laughed and listened to the chorus of goodnights as he led Annabelle upstairs. 

“Ugh, I’ve got class in the morning.” Niall dropped his head into his hands on the table after Liam and Annabelle left. “Fuck.”

“Honestly mate, why’d you even take morning classes?” Louis gave Niall a partly sympathetic look. He just groaned. 

“I don’t know.” Sighing, he got up and went for the stairs. “I better go catch some sleep then. Fuck. Goodnight lads.” He waved over his shoulder and then was gone, leaving only Zayn and Harry in the dining room with Louis. Harry still cleaning, Louis shot daggers at Zayn. 

“Get out of here and go to bed, you lazy ass. You know you want to.” Louis bickered, earning his a smirk. 

“If you wanted me to leave the room, all you had to do was ask.” Zayn winked at Louis, leaving the room. But not before he called over his shoulder, “You know where to find the lube in my room if you need it, Harry.” 

“Fuck off Malik.” Louis rolled his eyes, walking into the living room. “I’ll put on a movie, Haz.” 

“Wait, you’re staying in here with me?” Harry asked, stopping mid-wipe to look up at Louis. Louis crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow playfully. 

“I promised you a cuddle, didn’t I?” Louis reminded him. Harry grinned widely and nodded, tossing his rag in the sink and washing his hands. Louis left, not bothering to wait for him—he was only walking to the room over, there really wasn’t a need to—and wondered what he was getting himself into. He knew nothing was coming of this and he shouldn’t get his hopes up. He should just listen to the little voice in his head and go to his room. But he had promised Harry they’d cuddle, and he couldn’t exactly go back on his word now. 

Louis had just popped a random movie into the DVD player and tossed his shirt on the ground (normally he’d just sleep in his boxers, but he wasn’t about to do that now) when Harry wandered in holding a blanket. Unlike Louis, he seemed perfectly fine with cuddling in his boxers. 

“What?” Harry smiled. Louis raised an eyebrow. 

“Harry you’re basically not wearing any clothes.” Louis complained, only succeeding in making Harry grin wider. 

“Well normally I don’t wear any clothes to bed, so you’re lucky.” And that effectively shut Louis up. Grabbing the blanket from Harry’s hands, Louis motioned towards the couch. 

“Alright, lay down. I call little spoon.” Louis joked, wanting to keep that smile on Harry’s face. It worked, and Harry chuckled. 

“Of course you would.” Listening to what he was told as always, he laid down on the couch and smirked up at Louis. Louis rolled his eyes and tried to keep them anywhere but on Harry’s stomach or lower. Sitting in front of him, Louis pressed ‘play’ on the TV then flung the blanket out over the both of them. Harry barely fit under it he was so tall, but he didn’t seem to care, too busy wrapping his arms around Louis’ waist and tugging him down to lay next to him. Louis tried to keep his heart (and a couple other things) under control as he complied to Harry’s touch, letting himself be settled back against Harry’s chest and his hands pressing into Louis’ stomach. Harry was rubbing small circles into Louis’ exposed skin, making him shiver and work to keep his breathing normal. He couldn’t even tell you what was happening in the movie; his full attention was on Harry’s skin against his. 

Just when he had had just about enough and was sinking into sleep, Harry’s lips pressed against his neck softly. 

“I love you, Boo. Goodnight.” Harry whispered, nipping slightly at the spot he had just kissed before sucking gently. Louis shivered and leaned back farther into his touch. 

“Love you too, Haz.” And then Louis was out cold, the slow motions of Harry’s hand on his stomach and his lips working on his neck lulling Louis to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fucking LARRY LOOK AT THEM I'M SO HAPPY I JUST I gotta calm down. Okay. Yeah, alright. Fuck this.   
> Comment your thoughts, love bugs? ^-^


	3. Guess Who Lou Slept With

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on the chapter title? ;D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK I FINISHED THE CHAPTER OMFG  
> (Thanks SO MUCH to you lovely people who commented; y'all gave me the motivation to finish this sooner. Love you. <3)

Guess Who Lou Slept With

 

“Louis...” Someone was poking him, and if they were smart they’d stop. “Louis? Louis, get up.” 

Apparently they weren’t. 

“Louis, come on. You’re supposed to—“ 

“Louis, get your fat ass up!” Another louder voice chimed in, shouting over the smaller, lighter voice. Louis covered his ears with his pillow. 

“Well that’s not a nice thing to say. There’s nothing wrong with his bum—it’s just like anybody else’s bum!” The more girly voice spoke, this time a bit louder. If Louis had enough energy he’d open his eyes and roll them. Instead, he just mumbled, 

“Shut up, Zayn. My bum is way better than anyone else’s.”

“Now while that’s true Louis, that wasn’t me that said that.” A third voice responded, this one actually sounding like Zayn. Well if that’s Zayn then who the hell was the other voice? Louis forced a single eye open and shot straight up on the couch when his eyes met bright hazel ones that were way closer than he expected. Annabelle giggled at him as he flung a hand to his chest and tried to control his breathing. 

“Jeez, child, you scared me.” Louis blurted, only making Annabelle laugh some more. 

“Chicken.” Annabelle joked. Louis wasn’t exactly awake yet to be able to function, let alone sass someone, so he just stuck his tongue out at her before looking behind her and at the others. Niall and Zayn seemed to be the only ones there, both standing in front of the couch with their arms crossed and gazing down at him. 

“What?” Louis raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing. You’re just lucky it’s raining and we can’t go look for Annabelle’s mom, because you look like shit, man.” Zayn commented oh-so-nicely. Louis gave him a blank look. 

“Oh, thank you love. Always nice to hear such compliments from you so early in the morning.” Louis bickered, running a hand through his hair and frowning. He really needed a shower, and honestly where was his shirt? He’s pretty sure this poor little girl wasn’t very thrilled to see his bulge of a belly. At least he was tan, he supposed. 

“It’s not early morning anyway, honey.” Zayn mocked his sweet tone. “It’s after noon.”

Louis groaned. 

“Like I said, early in the morning.” And with that, Louis plopped himself face down onto the couch again, prepared to ignore the world and sleep for another five hours. Zayn complained under his breath and Louis knew he was about to tell him to get up again.

“Hey Louis?” Annabelle spoke suddenly, and Louis was sure she was going to comment on his whole no-shirt situation but he was surprised to hear differently. “What’s that on your neck?”

Louis turned his head a bit to look at her from his downward-facing position and raised an eyebrow. 

“What do you mean, what’s on my neck?” 

“That big bruise.” Annabelle shrugged, starring down at the part of Louis’ neck she could see, her eyes wide with innocent curiosity. “It looks purple!” 

Niall leaned forward from where he was standing next to Zayn. He placed his hands on his knobby knees and gazed down at Louis with a wide smirk. His smirks always made Louis nervous, especially in situations that specifically involved Louis himself. 

“Oh, no way.” Niall blurted, his grin only widening as he took a step closer. Louis sat up again and moved to cover his neck. Apparently he wasn’t quick enough, because then even Zayn’s eyes grew. 

“Holy shit.” 

“What? What’s on my neck?” Louis grabbed his neck and flinched a bit the pain of a bruise prominent. When the hell did he get a bruise on his neck? 

“Might wanna go see for yourself, mate.” Niall laughed, sitting up and scratching the back of his neck. Louis watched the three pairs of eyes on him warily before sighing and standing up. He was honestly horrified of what he’d find. What if a swarm of bugs had attacked him while he slept, or a horrifying vampire had come to suck his blood? Sure, those ideas were a bit out there, but so was Louis and his friends, so anything was possible. 

When Louis finally made it to the downstairs bathroom—his little trail of ducklings behind him, obviously—he quickly flicked on the light and gazed at his reflection. At first he didn’t notice anything, just a bad case of bed head, and then holy shit. 

“Fuck!” Louis shouted, earning him a wide blink of the eyes from Annabelle. Apparently, no Liam and Harry meant no filter on the boys’ mouths. “I’m going to fucking kill him!” He shoved past Niall and Zayn and climbed up the stairs into his room, trying to avoid knocking Annabelle onto her bum in the process. His ducklings continued to follow, and watched him dig through his drawers for the cover up he had just for occasions like this. Never hurts to be prepared, now does it. 

“Kill who?” Zayn interrogated at the same time Niall asked, 

“Why do you have make up?” 

“Shut the fuck up, Niall.” Louis glared at the giggling blue eyed boy before turning his gaze at Zayn. “And who the fuck do you think?” 

“You guys are potty mouths.” Annabelle mumbled and covered her mouth giggling. Niall looked down at her and chuckled with her. Shrugging, Zayn ignored the two. 

“How am I supposed to know? You’re a bit too slutty for me to keep up.” 

“Fuck off.” Louis barked at Zayn’s smirk. And then an evil little thought hit him and he looked up from his mirror to grin at Zayn. “Besides, it wasn’t some random. It was Liam.” 

“What?!” Niall and Zayn shouted at the same time, almost making Louis jump out of his chair. Their expressions were crazy, Zayn’s pissed look with furrowed eyebrows and Niall’s shocked look with wide eyes and mouth open. Giggling a bit to himself, Louis rolled his eyes. 

“I’m just kidding. Really lads, I didn’t know you were such ‘Liam groupies’.” Louis laughed at his own joke and when Zayn’s mouth fell open Annabelle began to laugh too. 

“I’m not a—“ Zayn started to try and deny it, but Louis waved him off and glanced over at Annabelle who was watching him cover his hickey with the makeup. When it looked like she was about to ask something, he shook his head. 

“Don’t even try it.” 

“But I wanna wear makeup too! I’ve never worn it before and it makes people so pretty!” Annabelle whined, a pout covering her lips. Louis turned in his chair to face her, seemingly satisfied with his cover-up job. 

“You’re too young, love. Maybe some other time.” 

“Besides, you don’t need makeup to look pretty. You’re already gorgeous as it is.” Niall cut in, looking as serious as Niall can. Annabelle giggled into her hand and shrugged. 

“I guess so. But I would still want to try it.” 

“How’s about this: we have Zaynie here draw you a couple people and you can draw on the makeup and clothes for them.” Niall offered, smiling wide when Annabelle jumped to her feet in excitement. 

“Yay! We can do that? That’d be so much fun!” 

“What?” Zayn uttered, looking at Niall like he was crazy. He was a big artsy fool, sure, but he never showed people his work much. And he especially didn’t work on cue like Niall was implying. He worked when an idea struck him, and no other time. It was almost like he couldn’t, really. 

“Oh, come on, Zayn. We know you can do it—it’s just a couple dolls, basically. You know how to do that.” Niall reasoned against Zayn’s open-mouthed face. He shrugged and patted Zayn on the shoulder. 

“Yeah but—you know I don’t work like that, I can’t just—“

“I know, Zayn. But, come on, can you honestly tell me you can resist that face?” Niall gestured at Annabelle, who caught the hint and started onto her best pout. It seemed to work easily too because Louis watched Zayn falter. 

“I—“ 

Niall cut him off. 

“It’ll be cool, buddy. Just a person or two.” 

Sighing, Zayn shoved Niall towards the door to Louis’ room. 

“Fine. Just give me a minute, I’ll be right there. Go find the crayons or something.” Zayn instructed. The two listened, both being excited for coloring hour and rushing downstairs to the kitchen. Louis just hoped it wasn’t a race, because Niall would probably shove the poor girl down the steps in order to win. 

Zayn stayed in Louis’ room after the two left, and shut the door behind them. Louis watched him warily as he did so, and sighed when he turned around to glare at him. He had a feeling he knew what Zayn was about to ask him about and he wasn’t really ready to answer him. He wasn’t even ready to think about it, really, he just wanted to shove it into the back of his mind until forever. Obviously Zayn had other ideas. His dark brown eyes bore in to Louis’ blue ones as if trying to find the answer first before asking. When he seemed to come up empty handed, he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“So?” Zayn blurted, still leveling Louis with a hard gaze. Louis rolled his eyes and shrugged. 

“So what, Zaynie, you have to be specific if you expect me to know what you’re talking about.” Louis sassed, smirking a bit to himself. Zayn raised an eyebrow, apparently unimpressed. 

“You know what, Louis. How long have you been letting our pal Harry fuck you?” 

And whoa that was not at all what he was expecting. 

“I-I what?” Louis stuttered, his mouth hanging open slightly because, well, what? He expected a question about how long Niall and Liam had been fucking each other or maybe a question on if they were fucking at all but him and Harry? That was throwing him for a bit of a loop and Zayn just stood there glaring at him as if he knew everything. Then his question caught up to Louis. “What the hell makes you think I bottom?” 

“You are fucking then!” Zayn shouted, smirking at Louis as if to say ha, I was right. Louis jaw actually hit the floor this time and he considered throwing something at Zayn. 

“No!” Louis denied. “Harry and I are not fucking! Where did you even get that from?” Really, Louis should have seen his answer coming, but he was feeling a bit slow at the moment. It wasn’t everyday he was accused of fucking one of his best friends. 

“Oh, I wonder?” Zayn mumbled sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. When Louis raised it right back Zayn reached out and flicked his throat. 

“Ow!” Louis cried, covering his neck. “Was that really necessary?” 

“Yes. Now are you going to answer my question, or not?” 

“I already said we aren’t fucking! Do you want me to spell it out for you? Harry’s cock hasn’t been in my ass or the other way around!” Louis shouted, his arms flinging about around him just as the door to the room opened. He suddenly realized just how loud he being and just because Zayn wanted to know about where his dick had been didn’t mean neither Niall nor Annabelle wanted to. He flushed, praying it wasn’t Annabelle walking into the room. 

Niall poked his head in instead, his eyes wide with a mix of amusement and internal cringing. 

“Is this a bad time?” 

“Niall, I told you to go find the crayons.” Zayn starred at him blankly, only a small frown tugging on the corner of his lips. As much as he loved the kid, he and Louis were having a semi-serious conversation and he knew if Louis found any chance to avoid the subject, he would. And Niall blundering in for no particular reason would indeed prove a distraction. 

“That’s what I’m doing! We couldn’t find them downstairs so Annabelle and I are looking up here in our rooms now.” Niall explained, proceeding to enter Louis’ room and digging through some of his drawers. 

“And you chose to search in Louis’ room because…? Why would Louis of all people have the crayons?” Zayn questioned, cringing when Niall boldly dug around through Louis’ underwear drawer. Which, seriously, why would Louis hide crayons there? 

“Hey! Get your nosey ass out of my underwear!” Louis shouted, jumping across the room and slamming the drawer shut before Niall could find something he really didn’t need to see. Niall smirked at Louis, barely yanking his hands out before they were slammed in. 

“Why, Lou? Something to hide?” 

Louis got a bit lonely sometimes, sue him. His hand wasn’t always enough and since obviously none of the boys he lived with—much to his dismay (Harry)—were going to help him, he had to take matters into his own hands. Err, toy. Whatever. Either way, Niall didn’t need to see it. 

“Shut the hell up, Leprechaun. I don’t have the damn crayons. Here, I’ll go help you look in Zayn’s room.” Louis, being the smart cookie he always was, shoved Niall out of his room and quickly moved to follow. He was not about to have this conversation with Zayn (or anybody, really. Ever.) and if looking for god damn crayons was his way out he was taking it. 

“Not so fast, Louis.” Zayn stern voice rang out behind them and Louis groaned, pushing Niall out the last bit. 

“God dammit! I’m not talking about this with you!” 

“Why not? Just admit you’re having sex with him and this conversation is over.” Zayn reasoned. Niall raised a suspicious eyebrow at Louis. 

“Who?” 

“Don’t worry about it—“ Louis tried to scold the blond, about to tell him to butt-the-hell-out of it, but Zayn decided to cut him off.

“Harry.” 

“Dammit, Zayn.” 

“You’re having sex with Harry?” 

“Who’s having sex with me?” And then Harry was standing in the doorway, grinning, a tray of Starbuck’s in one hand and a bag of Nando’s in the other. Niall’s eyes widened tenfold and he would’ve answered if he wasn’t so busy screaming in joy. Louis was too busy blushing to even stammer out a ‘nobody’ before Zayn said, 

“Louis, as if you didn’t know.” Zayn raised an eyebrow and smirked. Harry’s smile only widened, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he looked over towards Louis. 

“Oh, is he? Well that’s good to hear—thank you for telling me.” Harry winked at Louis, who just glared in return. “Ready for another round then, Sweet cheeks?” 

Louis snorted quite unattractively, walking towards the curly haired lad and trying to keep his knees from shaking. For a moment he wondered how in the hell he’d gotten himself in this situation. He grabbed the coffee he knew was his—Harry knew what kind Louis liked, of course—and patted Harry’s cheek. 

“You wish, Hot Shot.” Louis was standing right in front of him, looking right up at him—he saw the change of look in Harry’s eyes when it happened. 

“You know I d—“ 

“Niall!” Annabelle squealed, peeling around the corner of the hallway and just being able to catch herself before falling. She panted slightly, grinning up at Niall, a little box of triumph in her hand that she waved proudly. “I found the crayons.” 

“Whoa!” Niall threw his arms up into the air and screamed joyously. “Awesome! But first, we’re gonna eat some of my favorite food ever.” Niall turned and pointed at the food in Harry’s hand. Annabelle glanced back with a slight pout that widened once she saw Harry. 

“Harry! When did you get here?” Annabelle asked giddily. Harry smiled widely at her and shrugged casually. 

“Just a few minutes ago. I brought food and stuff, cause I figured these three wouldn’t even think to feed you.” Harry pointed a free thumb at Louis, Zayn, and Niall who all shot him dirty looks as Annabelle giggled. 

“For your information, I fed Annabelle very well. We had awesome pancakes this morning, didn’t we?” Niall gazed over at Annabelle for confirmation and she giggled some more, nodding her head quickly. She was bouncing happily on her toes, her hands held behind her back as she glanced around at the boys. 

“They were pretty good, actually.” Annabelle confessed. Niall turned and glared at Harry smugly. 

“See? I’m perfectly capable of handling things on my own.” 

“Sure you are.” 

“Why the hell didn’t I get any pancakes?” Louis complained suddenly, glaring at Niall. The blond only shrugged, grinning. 

“We tried to get you up, but you didn’t budge.” Annabelle shrugged as well, not looking the least bit worried. Louis gave her a blank look. 

“Well you should have tried harder, then.” 

“I would’ve, but you swatted me away.” Annabelle glared right back, and Louis was not going to stand for this. 

“You were probably being annoying.” 

“I was trying to tell you there were pancakes!” Annabelle shouted, sounding exasperated as she flung her arms out from her sides. Harry giggled, bumping Louis with his hip. 

“Oh, cut it out. Let’s just go eat, yeah?” Harry handed Annabelle the bag of Nando’s with a smile. “Go set that on the table before Niall eats my hand alright?” 

Annabelle’s eyes widened. 

“But now he’s going to eat my hand!” 

“Well then you better hurry before he gets the chance!”

Niall shouted like a hungry bear, making Annabelle scream and laugh. She hurried out of the room and down the stairs, Niall hot on her trail. 

“Give me my Nando’s, peasant!”

“I’m not a peasant! You are!” 

Louis laughed, moving to follow the two seven year olds out of the room. He was glad Annabelle had ran in when she did, because he wasn’t sure if the conversation they had been having could have gotten any more embarrassing. 

“Where are you going, Lou? We haven’t finished our little chat.” Zayn snickered from still inside Louis’ room and Louis groaned. Spinning around, he gave Zayn a bored look. 

“That’s because I’ve already answered your question, Zaynie. Harry and I—“ 

“Think what you want, mate.” Harry grinned devilishly, wrapping an arm around Louis’ shoulders. Louis considered shrugging him off, but then saw the bug eyed look on Zayn’s face and stopped. Apparently he had only came in here accusing the two of them of sleeping around just to annoy the hell out of Louis—he hadn’t actually believed it to be true. 

With a wink to Zayn, Louis nudged Harry farther into the room. Harry just grinned like an idiot, gazing stupidly at Louis to the point where Louis couldn’t look him in the eye for fear of just kissing him. He didn’t question it when Louis took the coffees from his hands and handed it to a slack-jawed Zayn. 

“Take this to the kitchen, will you? I’ve got some business to attend to.” Louis smirked and waved a hand at Harry behind him and he didn’t think he’d ever seen Zayn more disturbed. When he glanced back at Harry for confirmation of Louis trying to get-him-the-fuck-out of his room, Louis could’ve sworn he saw Zayn’s eye twitch. 

He really didn’t want to know what Harry looked like behind him. 

“Alright mates, I get it, I won’t ask anymore. You can drop the act. I was just trying to give Louis a hard time.” Zayn explained, on the verge of pleading. His gaze bounced back and forth between the two accused. 

“Drop what, Zaynie? You wanted to know and now you know.” Louis shrugged and placed a hand on his hip. Seriously, this was the most fun he’d had in a long time. Zayn’s never home anymore for Louis to fuck with him and now that he is Louis just wants to drive him up the wall. 

“No seriously, you can cut it out now.” Zayn actually pleaded this time, looking borderline scarred. The sound of Harry’s clumsy feet behind him told Louis that he was walking over to him, but he still jumped when arms found their way around his waist. Figuring Harry was just playing it up, Louis placed his hands over Harry’s arms and leaned into him a bit. 

“You might want to get out now.” Harry mumbled, his deep voice sounding even deeper than normal. Louis watched Zayn’s reaction as a shiver involuntarily ran down his back. Zayn cringed a bit, blinking wide eyes at the two when Harry dipped his head in the space between Louis’ neck and shoulder. Although Louis tried to scold his features to stay relaxed and make it look like they’d done this before, he really was freaking the hell out. The small gasp that left his mouth when Harry’s soft lips pressed to his already-formed bruise couldn’t be helped and he tilted his head a bit to the side on reflex. Louis watched as Zayn frowned like a disapproving mother, but felt Harry’s smirk on his skin. 

“Yeah, I’ll be downstairs making sure Niall doesn’t kill Annabelle, if you need me.” Zayn told them before hurrying out of the room and all but slamming the door shut behind him. Louis told himself he’d shove Harry off of him as soon as Zayn left, but Harry kept pressing kisses to his neck and he couldn’t really tell him ‘no’. He just focused on how fast his heart was beating and how he needed to keep his mouth clamped shut or he’d get himself in a lot of trouble. 

It wasn’t until Harry’s teeth nicked his skin a bit that he allowed himself to show any reaction. His nails dug into Harry’s arms and again he could feel Harry’s smirk into his skin. 

“Hey Boobear.” Harry laughed, his lips brushing against Louis’ neck as he spoke. His hair prickled Louis’ cheeks, but Louis was so used to it from cuddling with the kid that it didn’t even faze him. 

“Hey Haz.” Louis replied, using every piece of willpower he had left to keep his voice steady. He felt like patting himself on the back when his voice didn’t even waver, sounded as strong and steady as always. He could barely breathe, like alone talk, so he was pretty proud of himself to say the least. 

Harry’s lips pressed to his skin again, this time wrapping around the same spot he’d made the bruise the night before and sucking lightly. He felt Louis flinch and pulled his head up to nudge it against Louis’. 

“Why do you taste like makeup, love?” Harry chuckled, unwinding his arms from around Louis’ waist to squeeze his hips slightly. That gave Louis’ enough breathing room to think clearly, and the smart part of him turned around and shoved Harry off. 

“Dammit, Curly. How many times to I have to tell you; paws off.” Louis scolded, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at him. Harry grinned and shrugged. Louis rolled his eyes at him. “What’s the big idea, anyway, you asshole?” 

“Well Zayn was being nosey so I figured we’d make it seem like—“ 

“Not that, you idiot, I know what you were doing there. I meant the reason why he even started to bug me about it in the first place.” Louis raised an eyebrow when Harry’s already clueless gaze turned even more lost. 

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked curiously, his head even tilting to the side a bit. Louis just wanted to strangle the cuteness out of him, really. Instead, he smudged off all the makeup he’d just covered his neck up with. 

“This ring any bells?” 

Harry’s eyes darkened slightly at the sight of Louis’ neck and he blinked. 

“Maybe a few. Did I do that last night?” 

“Yes Harry, and I should kill you, because ever since I woke up Zayn has been giving me shit for it.” Louis complained because seriously this was all Harry’s fault. Why did he have to leave him so a big bruise in such an obvious place? 

Harry only shrugged, the smuggest look Louis had ever seen crossing over his face. 

“At least now he and everyone else know not to touch you.” Harry mumbled, so low that Louis could’ve played it off like he hadn’t heard him. But he did hear him, and he really wished he hadn’t, because now his heart was racing again and his cheeks felt flushed. Not to mention he was pretty sure Harry kissing his neck earlier had given him a boner and he was praying he didn’t notice. 

“What?” Louis tried to play it off like he hadn’t heard, and Harry only smirked. 

“Nothing, boo. Come on, before Niall eats all our food.” Harry turned around to leave the room and Louis’ mouth flopped open. 

“What—you’re not even going to apologize and beg for forgiveness? I put up with Zayn trying to bug out of me if I top or bottom!” That made Harry stop and poke his head around the corner of the hallway, a thoughtful look on his face. Just when Louis thought he was going to apologize, Harry met his eyes and said, 

“I think we’d take turns, don’t you think?” And then with a grin he was gone, down the steps and in the kitchen. Louis starred after him with an open mouth, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened to him in just the short hour he’d been awake. Finding out Harry’d given him a hickey by a seven-year-old, being accused of having sex with Harry, being accused of only being a bottom (yeah fuck you too, Zayn), and then convincing Zayn they actually were having sex. 

Sighing and shaking his head, Louis returned to his room to re-apply the makeup on his neck—no use freaking Liam out about it. When he finally made it downstairs he saw everyone but Harry was finished eating, Niall reaching across the table every now and then to pick off Harry’s plate. He sat down just in time to hear Niall ask, 

“How was work today, Harry?” 

“Actually, I wanted to ask you guys about that.” Harry politely swallowed, wiping his face before continuing. Annabelle watched him anxiously, copying his movements and wiping her own mouth. “One of the regulars—or so Josh, this guy I work with says—came in both today and yesterday, so I guess he is a regular—“ Harry had a way of getting distracted while he talked, and this was a very good example of it. “—well, today he asked me if I wanted to grab a couple of mates and go out to this swanky club with him tonight. So I was wondering if you lads wanted to go have a night out?” 

“I’m in.” Zayn said automatically, “What time?” 

“Around eight, he said.” Harry turned to Niall and Louis. “You lads coming along?” 

“Nah, mate.” Niall replied, and then the three boys were all looking at him as if he’d grown another head. “What? Just figured I’d stay in and hang around with Annabelle. Liam deserves a bit of a night out anyway.” Niall shrugged like it was no big deal, but they all knew how much Niall loved going out. The fact that he was staying in was a huge surprise, but it showed just how attached to the kid he was already. 

“What about you, Lou?” They all glanced over at him and he shrugged. 

“Yeah, sure. Haven’t been out in a while, should be fun. As long as this ‘regular’ keeps his hands off you.” Louis snickered, glaring at the table. Harry grinned. 

“Don’t be worried, Boo, I don’t like him.” Harry shrugged like it was no big deal, and Louis believed him, it was just that he didn’t trust this guy. For all they knew, he didn’t give two fucks if Harry liked him or not. 

“Can I go, too?” Annabelle asked then, excitement filling her eyes. “Please, please, please? I’ll be good!” Annabelle pleaded, even joining her hands and glancing around at them with puppy-dog eyes. 

“What—no. Believe me when I say a club is not a place for little kids. Besides, they won’t even let you in if we tried; you’re too young.” Zayn explained sternly, sounding a lot like a concerned father. He even had the right look on his face—a deep frown his eyebrows pinched. Annabelle groaned, dropping her chin into her hands. 

“Dang it. I just wanted to go have fun with you guys.” Annabelle pouted, a scowl on her cute face. Niall patted her on her head. 

“Don’t worry love; we’ll have a lot of fun hanging around here. We can watch movies all night and color on the walls with the crayons you found and stuff.” Niall joked, grinning when Annabelle giggled. 

“You can watch movies all night, sure, but there better not be any crayon marks on the walls when we get back or I’m locking you both in a closet.” Zayn scolded. 

Everyone’s mouths fell open. 

“Child abuse!” Harry shouted at the same time Niall yelled, 

“Quit ruining all our fun!” 

Zayn only shrugged in response. 

“Try having cleaner, safer fun.” 

“Alright then, dad.” Niall rolled his eyes dramatically before being shoved. 

“Shut up, Niall.” 

 

***

 

By the time Liam made it home later that night the three boys were already ready to head out. Liam only had about enough time to set his bag down before Louis was dragging him into his room and flinging clothes at him. 

“Louis, why do you look all nice?” Liam questioned, catching the shirt Louis threw at him. 

“What are you talking about Liam, I always look nice.” Louis smirked, earning him an eye roll. 

“I meant why are you all dressed up?” 

“Why do you think? Harry got invited to go clubbing so we’re all going with him.” Louis explained, throwing more clothes at Liam. Liam’s mouthed flopped open and he stuttered around. 

“What-what do you mean we’re all going to go clubbing? We can’t all go clubbing; someone has to stay here and watch Annabelle!” Liam squealed quite girlishly, to the point where Louis felt like throwing his shoe at him. 

“We’re not imbeciles, Liam, we know that. Niall is staying with her.” 

“Niall? Niall is staying with her?” Liam looked at Louis like he was stupid. 

“Don’t act so stunned, puppy, he offered to stay with her. It’s kind of cute, how attached he is to her already.” Louis explained, through digging around in Liam’s closet. He handed Liam one last shirt as Liam pouted up at him from where he sat on his bed. 

“That’s not good, Louis. I don’t think she’ll be staying with us.” 

“We’ll cross that bridge when it’s built.” Louis shrugged. Liam sighed, apparently feeling no use in fighting, and nudged Louis out of his room. 

“Fine. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” 

“Hurry up or we’ll be late.” Louis scolded playfully, earning him a grin and a slammed door. 

 

***

 

Louis does not like this ‘regular’. Ever since they met up with him and his couple of friends he’s been all over Harry, quite literally. There’s been a hand to his arm, a knee pressed to knee, fingers in his curls. Louis is about ready to chop all his limbs off and throw his body into the closest river, and Liam must realize this because not even thirty minutes into their club trip he’s up Louis’ ass, keeping a hand on his arm or around his waist to keep him from charging. 

Honestly though, as if Louis would do that in public. 

He’d do it maybe in a back alley where no one would see him mangling him. 

It doesn’t help that the guy looks twenty years older than the lot of them. He’s creepy looking to Louis, and he honestly fucking hates him. 

“Why so glum, Louis?” Zayn grins at him from across their table. As soon as they’d stepped foot in the building Zayn had ordered himself a drink, and not even an hour in he was sloppy. He was leaning all over one of Harry’s sides, the other being taken up by Nick—that’s the douchey-old guy’s name. Harry had an arm around him to keep him up, but Nick had a hand on Harry’s knee. 

“Shut the fuck up, you drunk.” Louis snapped, not having any of Zayn’s shit at all. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you.” 

“Come on, Lou.” Liam nudged him from his left, trying to get him out of their booth. “Let’s go dance, yeah?”  
Louis let himself but pushed away from the table, but not before he finished his drink, the liquid burning all the way down his throat. Once on the dance floor he decided to let loose, trying to forget about Harry and his ‘regular’. Harry wasn’t egging the guy on or anything, but he wasn’t stopping him either and that was just as irritating. 

At some point he ended up being handed more drinks and he took them in full, just wanting to relax. Once the alcohol started hitting Louis’ system he felt better. He danced with Liam for a long time—much to Zayn’s drunken dismay—and began to lose track of time. As good of a dancer as Liam was, he wasn’t very interested in grinding and bumping around with Louis so eventually Louis let himself be bumped away from him. The randoms in the club became Louis’ best buddies and he didn’t even mind the roaming hands. Their hands grabbed at his waist and sides, pulling him this way and that to dance and grind and he was out of it by then that he didn’t care who it was. 

It wasn’t until familiar hands lightly gripped his hips that he actually felt awake. He tilted his head back a bit and realized, yes, it was indeed his curly haired freak behind him. Harry grinned down at him, grinding their hips together to the beat. 

“Hazza! What are you doing over here, love?” Louis asked, his voice sounding like shit even to his own ears. Harry’s smile just widened and he shrugged, though the look in his eyes darkened slightly. 

“Just keeping an eye on you. All of these strange men have their hands on you and I’m not too comfortable with that, to be honest. Especially sense you seem plastered.” Harry clarified, his point proven when Louis tripped a bit and fell against him. He was quick to get back up and continue dancing. 

“I may be a bit drunk, sure, but I can handle my own. You’re the one with a strange man all over you.” Louis bickered like a jealous teenage girl because honestly he couldn’t help it. Nick was creepy sure but Louis supposed in the awful lighting in this club and a couple pints he might look a bit attractive. 

“Who, Nick?” 

Louis nodded with an eye roll, not missing the swing of his hips to the beat. 

“He is a bit handsy, isn’t he?” Harry suggested. Louis nodded again, spinning around in Harry’s grip and latching onto his whole front side. 

“My Hazza. That creepy guy can’t have you.” Louis stated possessively. Harry chuckled, and Louis barely heard his whispered, ‘course, Lou’ before he was ripped away from Harry and into another pair of familiar arms. 

“Loueh!” Zayn’s accent always got worse when he was shitfaced. “Help me play a trick on Niall, eh?” 

Suddenly that sounded like the best idea Louis had ever heard in his life. He nodded his head quickly, causing the room to spin, and let Zayn grab and drag him towards the exit of the club. 

They wouldn’t have stopped if a hand hadn’t grabbed Louis’ wrist. 

“Paws off, buddy—oh, Harry!” Louis grinned, instantly relaxing. “What are you doing here?” 

“Better question is: where are you two going?” Harry countered, eyeing Zayn warily. Zayn smirked at him, grabbing Louis’ other hand and tugging on him. 

“None a-ya business Harreh.” Zayn slurred. Harry raised an eyebrow then turned to Louis, who was obviously going to answer him. 

“We’re gonna go play a prank on Niall. I’m not sure what yet but we’ll figure it out when we get there.” Louis explained. Harry nodded, still looking a bit uneasy. 

“Let me get your cab, yeah?” Harry asked, already moving to wave one down. When it stopped Zayn climbed in first, leaving Louis and Harry alone for a few seconds. Normally Louis would have been flipping shit, but he couldn’t even focus long enough to count to three, let alone realize that his heart was racing for a reason other than alcohol. 

“Bye, Boo!” Louis grinned when Harry laughed at him, his hand playing with some of Louis’ fingers. 

“That’s my nickname for you, Lou. I call you Boo, you call me Haz, remember?” Harry smiled at him playfully, letting Louis when he tugged his fingers away from him and patted his cheek. 

“Whatever you say, Curly.” 

Harry laughed again and leaned forward to kiss Louis forehead, which finally slowed Louis’ brain down a bit. He leaned into it, letting the feeling of comfort Harry carried with him take over him if only for a moment before Harry pulled away. 

“Be safe Boo, yeah?” 

Louis nodded before climbing into the cab next to Zayn. Harry gave them one last smile before telling the driver their address and shutting the door. Louis didn’t start talking until the car started driving. 

“So how do you wanna prank him then?” He asked, fiddling with his fingers. For some reason they tingled, along with his forehead. 

“I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?” Zayn answered with his own question. An idea struck Louis then, and a part of him knew it was a horrible one, but he couldn’t help it from spilling from his mouth. 

“Let’s make out!” 

“What?” Zayn looked at him like he was fucking crazy, which he supposed he was, but he continued on anyway. 

“In front of Niall, I mean. I’ve caught him recently hooking up with someone so why not prank him by returning the favor?” It seemed reasonable in Louis’ hand. It was fool-proof. Have Niall catch them making out; he’d never expect it so it’d be the best prank ever. 

“Who was it?” Zayn asked then, gazing at Louis curiously. 

“Huh?” 

“Who did you catch him with?” 

“Oh, no one to worry about.” Louis lied helplessly; even drunk he had no idea what to tell the kid. It didn’t matter though, because the cab was pulling up to their house. Louis crawled out of the car quickly, half so he didn’t have to pay it and half so he could ignore the question some more. Zayn paid the fair and met up with Louis while he fumbled to get his key in the door. 

“Let me do it.” So Zayn did, and they stealthily made their drunken ways inside. Quietly they closed and locked the door back up and, not seeing anyone in the living room, figured Niall was putting Annabelle to sleep. They hurried into the kitchen and turned the light on, staying over by the counters. 

“So, are we doing this?” Louis asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge at Zayn. Zayn raised one right back, glancing around the room. 

“Here?” 

“You know Niall always comes in to eat right before he goes to bed.” Louis reminded him. Zayn nodded, biting his lip and looking a bit nervous. 

“When do you think we should—?” Zayn’s question was cut off by footsteps in the hallways, and a very loud Irishman muttering, 

“Why the hell is this light on?” 

Before Louis could remind himself that this was probably one of the worst ideas he’s ever had, he rushed forward and pressed his lips against Zayn’s. Zayn responded immediately, his mouth opening underneath Louis’ and his tongue darting out to meet halfway. There was just enough time for Louis to shove Zayn back against the counter and for Zayn to grip Louis’ hair in his fingers before Niall walked in. 

“What the fuck!” Niall shouted. Louis pulled away just in time to see him cover his eyes. “You fucking cunts, what the hell are you doing?” Neither boy answered, just grinned at Niall and shrugged. Niall groaned, throwing his arms into the air. “Fuck both of you, dammit. Just don’t do that in the kitchen—go to one of your rooms or something! I can’t eat if you’re in here!” 

“Alright.” Zayn agreed, grabbing Louis’ hand and leading him towards the stairs. He knew that was when his warning bells should have started going off, but they seemed to be asleep because Louis found no problem with following Zayn to his room where they’d probably end up sucking each other off. 

“And be quiet, Annabelle’s asleep. You damn cunts.” Niall complained, shaking his head as they hurried away. 

The only sensible part left in Louis’ head was right, as soon as Zayn closed his door behind him he had Louis pressed against it, his mouth kissing its way up his throat. Louis grabbed onto Zayn’s hair, letting him bite marks on his throat and down onto his collarbones. He whined when Zayn teasingly ground their hips together. 

“Damn, Lou. Didn’t know you could make that sound.” So Zayn did it again, this time with more purpose, and Louis could feel himself getting hard in his jeans. He let his shirt be tugged off when Zayn picked up his arms, and didn’t bat his hands away when Zayn dropped to his knees and started unbuttoning Louis’s pants.

Finally, finally, Louis’ alcohol-infested brain started screaming at him. ‘This is a very bad, horrible idea you fucking tard, what are you doing?!’ was on repeat running through his mind, and he figured he should probably listen to it. It didn’t help that after the first moment it crossed his mind, Liam’s pouty, puppy dog face came with it. 

“Wait, Zayn. Zayn, stop.” Louis told him, batting his hands away from where he’d began tugging his jeans down. Zayn gazed up at him with an irritated expression. 

“What is it?” 

“What do you mean, ‘what is it’? I can’t do this with you.” Louis explained. Zayn sighed, standing up and meeting Louis’ stare with a scowl. 

“Well thanks Lou, you do wonders for my confidence.” Zayn complained. Louis barely caught sight of him rolling his eyes in the dark. 

“That’s not what I meant. Besides, your ego needs to be knocked down a couple levels anyway.” Louis joked, trying to lighten the mood. Luckily Zayn was still somewhat drunk, because he grinned back at Louis. 

“Cause I get a lot of ass, right?” 

“Of course you do, killer.” Louis patted Zayn’s back before buttoning his jeans up again and opening his door. “Now go off to your room and jerk off into a tissue or something.” 

“Fuck off, Tommo.” Zayn mumbled, still sounding reasonably happy. Louis laughed at him, finding the whole situation funny, and pushed him farther down the hall. 

“See your drunk ass in the morning.” Louis didn’t get a response, just the sound of Zayn’s door shutting, but he didn’t mind. The coherent part of his brain was just happy things hadn’t gotten any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly not very happy with this chapter. I feel like I didn't go into any details or incorporate any of Louis' personality into it, but whatever, I might fix it later. It's more of a filler, anyway.  
> I still hope y'all like it. <3  
> (Btw, the answer to the chapter title is...NO ONE! ;D)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay love bugs, this is my first story on here so I'm gonna need a little help. Comment your thoughts and all that jazz? ^-^


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